Susan Rice Sells Netflix Holding -- WSJ
August 08 2020 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By John McCormick
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (August 8, 2020).
Susan Rice, believed to be a top contender to be Joe Biden's
vice presidential running mate, has sold a significant proportion
of the Netflix Inc. shares she has acquired since becoming a
company director in May 2018.
The former national security adviser and United Nations
ambassador for President Obama exercised roughly a quarter of the
more than 5,200 options she held as of this week, according to a
Securities and Exchange Commission filing dated Thursday.
Mr. Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is
expected to announce his running mate next week. Ms. Rice is viewed
as a strong contender because she worked closely with him when he
was vice president and he is known to value personal
relationships.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Ms. Rice
held the options in an article about her having more experience in
corporate America than any of the other women Mr. Biden is believed
to be considering.
At her sale price of $508.68 per share, Ms. Rice netted about
$305,000 after accounting for the various strike prices associated
with the options awarded to her as compensation.
"Ambassador Rice's sale of a fraction of her Netflix stock has
nothing to do with V.P. speculation," Erin Pelton, Ms. Rice's
spokeswoman, said in a statement. "She filed a stock plan pursuant
to SEC regulations over three months ago."
A Netflix spokeswoman declined to comment.
The company's shares have been trading higher this summer as the
pandemic has forced people to spend more time at home and boosted
subscriptions to the entertainment service.
Even as she sold shares this week, Ms. Rice acquired additional
options. As part of monthly compensation to board members, she was
awarded 125 shares at an exercise price of $498.62, a Wednesday SEC
filing shows.
Ms. Rice, 55 years old, would be the first Black woman on a
major-party presidential ticket if she is nominated. If she were to
become vice president, it would entail a significant pay cut
because she would be expected to resign her Netflix
directorship.
Ms. Rice had a net worth of between $23.5 million and $43.5
million as of 2009, according to the nonpartisan Center for
Responsive Politics in Washington. That made her the wealthiest
member of the executive branch that year, narrowly beating
then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the center reported. The
disclosures Ms. Rice filed during the Obama administration required
only broad ranges for assets, making it impossible to determine
exact figures for some holdings.
Ms. Rice's stockholdings drew scrutiny from progressives in 2012
when she was under consideration for secretary of state. If Mr.
Biden selects her, Ms. Rice's corporate ties could get additional
scrutiny, as would her role in foreign policy during the Obama
administration.
Specifically, Republicans have criticized her for initially
characterizing deadly 2012 attacks on Americans in Benghazi, Libya,
as an episode of spontaneous protest hijacked by extremists instead
of a premeditated terrorist attack. They have also accused her of
spying on Michael Flynn, President Trump's first national security
adviser.
A 2014 House of Representatives report on the Libya incident
found that while public statements by her and other U.S. officials
were proven wrong, the inaccuracies stemmed from poor
intelligence.
Declassified records, meanwhile, have shown no evidence that she
improperly accessed information about Mr. Flynn, and Ms. Rice has
called for greater transparency surrounding what she has said are
legitimate counterintelligence concerns about Mr. Flynn's
communications with Russia.
Write to John McCormick at mccormick.john@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 08, 2020 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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