As Amgen sinks executives dump stock
Insider trading is a crime. Forgive me for NOT giving these executives the benefit of doubt but when you read the following:
The shareholders also allege that Amgen officers unloaded their own stock after a 2006 clinical study of cancer patients taking Aranesp "discovered that more deaths occurred in patients taking Aranesp than in taking a placebo." Investors say they didn't find out about the study until four months later. The Colorado lawsuit states, "Dennis Fenton, Amgen's executive vice president of operations, sold 100,000 shares of Amgen stock for over $7 million. Defendants Richard Nanula, Amgen's (former) chief financial officer, sold 30,000 shares for over $2 million. "The timing and size of this insider selling was highly suspicious in light of the material, adverse information about Amgen known to defendants but not disclosed to the public." Also accused of "highly suspicious insider selling" is Chief Executive Officer Kevin Sharer, who sold more than 70 percent of his holdings, 1.2 million shares for $96 million.
Coincidence? Yeah right and I have some swamp land to sell you at a great price ! Compare this to what happened at Eli Lilly when they lost the patent on Prozac and watched their top revenue producer go south. The CEO, Sidney Taurel, took an annual salary of $1, a plan called "Year X" was immediately put into place in which all spending would go through prioritization and people were reallocated, yes some were given packages and left the company. Mr Taurel as far as this author knows did not dump the company stock when the issue was going through litigation in the court.
A CEO has a duty to lead his people and set standards for leadership but in case it seems that these executives were more interested in leading their own bank accounts. Now this can happen in ANY industry and is not exclusive just to the drug industry but at a time when a company is in dire need of leadership this is nothing short of a disgrace. In the next few months it is believed that many Amgen employees will be called into a room to meet with their boss and HR reps to be informed that they are no longer needed. If they are lucky they will get a package that will sustain them for 2-3 months but then the reality of what has happened to them will hit home and they will have to start from scratch while executives go home in their Mercedes to their mansions in Thousand Oaks. It's time to be held accountable and it's time for new leadership at Amgen. If these executives did in fact conduct insider trading than they should go to jail and their bank accounts should be emptied. Let them learn what it feels like to put your trust in your CEO only to have to start from scratch again.