In March
AECnews speculated that the next heir apparent at Autodesk must be Chris Bradshaw, promoted this year to worldwide VP of marketing. (Part of our reasoning was tongue-in-cheek; he has the right initials to follow CarolBartz and Carl Bass). This week Bradshaw added another
“me too
” to the list when he cashed in stock options for a million-dollar-plus payday.
According to a Form 4 (insider trading report) filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday, Bradshaw exercised options for 41,870 shares of Autodesk common stock. The acquiring price of the shares varied from $6.25 to $7.85. Bradshaw sold the options for between $44.95 and $45.00 each.
Let
’s do the math. Assuming the highest acquisition price ($7.85) and the lowest selling price ($44.95), Bradshaw
’s net proceeds for the day were $1,553,377. That
’s a good day
’s pay, but let
’s put it into context. First, it took him years to accumulate the options. Second, after the tax hit, he
might be able to pay cash for a
starter home in Marin County, California, Autodesk's home. (Or he could buy two
really nice lakefront homes where I live in rural Washington State.)
We are guaranteed a slow news season from Autodesk; he could not have cashed in this week if the company was planning any announcements of substance.
UPDATE: Bradshaw wasn't the only Autodesker to cash in this week. Mark Bertelsen, a member of the board of directors, exercised options on 40,000 shares.
--RSN