Monster's co-CEOs sold a chunk their company's stock - but wanted to sell a lot more

By Tomi Kilgore

Co-CEOs Rodney Sacks and Hilton Schlosberg sold a total of $24 million worth of shares, but had put up more than $50 million worth for sale

Monster Beverage Corp. said Monday that it has completed its tender offer to buy back $3 billion worth of its shares, including about $24 million worth of shares that were owned by co-Chief Executives Rodney Sacks and Hilton Schlosberg.

The Monster shares (MNST) were repurchased at the bottom of the price range the company said it would pay when the tender offer was announced last month. The number of shares repurchased ended up being less than half of what was offered for sale by shareholders.

The energy-drink company said Monday that spent it $3 billion to purchase 56,603,773 shares, or 5.4% of the stock outstanding prior to the tender offer, at a final purchase price of $53 per share. The amount of stock purchased represented 47.6% of the total of 119,108,767 shares that were tendered.

On May 8, when the tender offer was announced, the company said it would pay "not less" than $53 and "not greater" than $60 in the $3 billion tender offer.

"Because the number of shares tendered at the final purchase price of $53.00 per share or as purchase-price tenders would have exceeded the aggregate purchase price of the tender offer, shares were accepted for purchase on a pro rata basis," the company said, with the exception of "odd lots" and conditional tenders.

The stock was down 2.5% in afternoon trading Monday.

Of the total shares accepted for purchase by the company, 286,918 shares were owned by co-CEO Rodney Sacks and were valued at $15.21 million at the purchase price. And Hilton Schlosberg, who was promoted to co-CEO from chief financial officer in January 2021, had 165,135 shares accepted for purchase, valued at about $8.75 million.

Yet Sacks had offered 608,114 shares for sale and Schlosberg had offered 350,000 shares, which were valued at $32.23 million and $18.55 million, respectively, at the purchase price.

Monster's stock has shed 10.7% year to date, while the S&P 500 index SPX has gained 12.4%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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06-10-24 1421ET

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