THQ CEO Brian Farrell exercises stock options, sells shares
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Feb 20th 2008 at 7:00AM }
We don't claim to be stock market experts (we don't know how anyone can keep up with all those bulls and bears and acronyms) but we're pretty sure that when a company's head honcho exercises options for over 73 thousand shares in his own company, then promptly sells off close to 53 thousand of those shares (netting a cool $10 million profit in the process), that's usually kind of a bad moon rising for said organization.
When the honcho in question is Brian Farrell, CEO of the economically tumultuous game designer and publisher THQ, our rarely used financial spider-sense can't help but tingle. Sure, our conjecture could be entirely off base -- Farrell might just want to fill his swimming pool with singles -- but considering the company's recent chain of headline-making damage control maneuvers, we can't help but wonder if THQ is more SOL than anyone could have guessed.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rususeruru @ Feb 20th 2008 7:16AM
That bull and bear look terrible.
Nigeria @ Feb 20th 2008 7:53AM
Bear?
More like Manbearpig.
Ntt @ Feb 20th 2008 10:41AM
cept that damn WWE game has sold 5 million copies already.
Ignatius @ Feb 20th 2008 10:27AM
Well, say goodbye to THQ.
watchthatman @ Feb 20th 2008 10:30AM
What? But THQ made the best WWF game for the N64 - and yes, I said WWF. BEFORE they sold out to the Man and became WWE. What the hell.
Eddie @ Feb 20th 2008 11:57AM
I'm pretty sure what you guys describe here is completely illegal. It's what got Martha Stewart thrown in the big house times ten. Officers of a publicly held company are explicitly forbidden from selling stock because of some knowledge about the company's present or future performance gained from being an inside party and therefore information not available to the public by the SEC.
Meaning... if THQ is in trouble and big cheese knows it (and is trying to cash out before it hits the fan), this story is about to become a lot more interesting.
Or he just wants to fill his hot tub with singles.
Andrew @ Feb 20th 2008 1:19PM
Indeed, you're not stock market experts. As the poster above mentioned it would be illegal for a senior executive to buy/sell stock based on insider knowledge. And plenty have gone to jail for that. That's why the rules state that all their transactions are announced months in advance or their assets managed by independant third party. And that's the reason you even KNOW that he sold them - it has to be publicly announced. Duh. I can't believe you wouldn't know such a basic thing.
EA CEO @ Feb 20th 2008 1:51PM
While his stock sale is getting lots of attention the fact that he turned around and bought a bunch of THQ stock with the profits isn't getting much attention, which would imply that he things it's under rated.