Stéphane Bancel, who has become a billionaire thanks to his company which has developed a vaccine against the COVID-19, intends to give income from the sale of its stock options, or some 331 million euros.
by
He is not a follower of social networks. It is therefore on his business’s blog that Moderna CEO, Stéphane Bancel, announced the sale of all of his stock options for the benefit of charity. “Brenda [his wife] and I are going to donate all the products after taxes of my action purchase options since my arrival in Moderna,” wrote the boss of Biotech, Tuesday May 24.
The co -founder of the laboratory, which has become a billionaire thanks to sales of the COVVI -19 vaccine -his personal fortune is estimated at $ 4.4 billion (4.1 billion euros) according to Forbes -, had been seen Award by his company, in August 2013, an option to buy shares, the deadline of which is scheduled for the summer of 2023. The latter offered him the possibility of acquiring nearly 4.6 million shares to a Fixed price of $ 0.99 (0.92 euros) per share, 139 times lower than the current price of around 137 dollars.
“If we do not exert this purchase option, it will expire and will be worthless. Our choice is therefore clear: exercise the option and take advantage of this moment to create a positive change in the world”, explains the Marseillais, who estimates the total amount of this donation at $ 355 million (331 million euros), assuming that the action is negotiated around $ 140.
“Improve the world”
“Moderna brought my family a financial security such that I had never imagined it or, frankly, wanted. In an effort of transparency, I wanted to inform you of the way in which I intend to use my personal financial resources for Improve the world, “he explains in his message.
Will this philanthropic act be enough to silence criticism? Launched in the remedy for the COVID-19 at the beginning of 2020, Moderna won thanks to her messenger RNA vaccine as one of the big winners of the pandemic. In 2021, its turnover amounted to $ 18.5 billion (17.2 billion euros), 96 % of which came only from sales of its product against SARS-COV2. A commercial success that did not fail to arouse comments. Like his rivals, the American Pfizer and the German Biontech, Stéphane Bancel has regularly been arrested on the selling prices of his vaccine, one of the most expensive on the market, but also on the slowness of his deliveries intended for the poorest countries during the year 2021.