Jamie Dimon will do something he has never done before in nearly two decades as the head of JPMorgan Chase & Co. — sell shares in the company.
The top executive of the United States’ largest bank will sell one million shares starting next year, according to a regulatory filing this week.
JPMorgan sought to reassure investors that the stock sale is not a matter of concern.
“Mr. Dimon continues to believe the company’s prospects are very strong and his stake in the company will remain very significant,” the filing said.
Dimon and his family currently hold about 8.6 million shares of the bank.
And JPMorgan has become a titan under Dimon’s leadership.
Dimon became CEO of JPMorgan in January 2006 and added on the chairman role a year later. The value of the bank, with US$3.2 trillion in assets, has tripled during Dimon’s tenure, and it now has a market capitalization of more than US$409.1 billion, according to FactSet.
The value of JPMorgan’s shares have also tripled in that time and they are up another 10 per cent in the past year.
The New York bank reported a 35 per cent surge in profits during its most recent quarter, fuelled by a rapid rise in interest rates.
Dimon has also come to be considered a powerful and frank voice on Wall Street. He issued a sobering statement about the current state of world affairs and economic instability.
When the bank posted another blockbuster earnings report two weeks ago, Dimon warned, “This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades.”
Dimon laid out a laundry list of major issues: the Russia-Ukraine War, the new war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, high levels of government debt and deficits, high inflation, as well as the tight labour market, where worker demands for increased wages have led to high-profile strikes in manufacturing and entertainment.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. closed Friday down US$5.07, or 3.6 per cent at US$135.69.
