Check Point CEO Gil Shwed nets $50 million profit in sale of $200M-worth of options
Shwed remains the largest shareholder in the company, owning 29.7 million shares as of the end of December 2023, representing a 25.3% stake in Check Point
With his tenure as the long-standing CEO of Check Point coming to a close, Gil Shwed is cashing in on some of his options. Shwed has exercised options for 1.3 million shares, valued at $201.4 million, which were granted to him in 2017 and have now expired.
The deal is expected to net him a $50 million profit, given the current price of Check Point's stock, which stands at about $152. These options were granted to him in June 2017 when the stock was trading at around $114.
Shwed has only received compensation in the form of shares and options from Check Point for many years now after relinquishing his salary. Typically, he exercises expiring options without setting a specific date for sale.
Shwed remains the largest shareholder in the company, owning 29.7 million shares as of the end of December 2023, representing a 25.3% stake in Check Point. At the company's current valuation, his holdings are valued at $4.3 billion—an unusually substantial holding for a technology company and relative to typical holdings in Wall Street firms.
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Shwed, one of the founders of the cybersecurity company alongside Shlomo Kramer and Marius Nacht, has led it from its inception and is the last remaining founder at the company. His lengthy tenure, dating back to Check Point's establishment in 1993, has made Shwed, who is 55 years old, the longest serving CEO of a Nasdaq-traded company.
Currently, Check Point is in search of its next CEO, with Shwed expected to transition to the role of Executive Chairman, aiming to distance himself from day-to-day management and focus on strategic initiatives.
Check Point recently released its first-quarter 2024 reports, slightly surpassing Wall Street's forecasts. The company reported revenues of $599 million for the first quarter of 2024 compared to $566 million in the same period in 2023, marking a 6% increase, slightly exceeding analysts' expectations of $595 million. Earnings per share stood at $2.04, a 13% increase from the corresponding quarter, surpassing expectations of $2.01.
