Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, has sold 5 million shares in the airline.
Ryanair told the stock market this morning that O’Leary had sold 5m shares at €3.75 each on Friday. The sale, which raises him £16.5m, means he now owns just over 60m shares in the budget airline, a stake of just 4%.
Friday’s price of €3.75 a share was a 15-month high for Ryanair shares, which hit a low of €1.80 last October. They fell by 2% to €3.68 this morning.
O’Leary has cut his stake in Ryanair several times before. In 2003 he sold 4m shares, raising £17m. He raised a further £25.8m in June 2005 by selling 6m shares at €6.50 each.
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