Accel to sell around $1 billion in Facebook stock

Update: This is a bit different than we thought. As it turns out, the shares Accel intends to sell are a majority of what it is now eligible to sell. Its total holdings exceeded 150 million shares. TNW apologizes for the confusion.

Unlock and drop, the saying goes. Facebook is living up to the cliché today, falling over 6% at the time of writing. Today, insiders had the opportunity to sell shares of the now public company.

According to CNN, some 22 million shares traded in the first ten minutes of the day. Some 271 million shares are freshly up for sale.

Among those looking to unload big Facebook stakes Accel Partners, who, according to CNBC, is planning to sell 50 million shares. CNBC called that the ‘bulk’ of its holdings in the company At the firm’s roughly $20 share price, the sale is worth around $1 billion.

For Facebook, a company that has struggled since its IPO, the sale is likely to be viewed as indication of a lack of confidence in its long-time investors, who presumably know the firm better than other, newer investors in the company.

Image Credit: Marco Paköeningrat