SEC Charges Cheetah Mobile CEO With Insider Trading

By Dean Seal

The chief executive of Cheetah Mobile Inc., along with its former president, have been fined by federal regulators for allegedly committing insider trading while using popular but controversial executive stock trading plans.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday that it has reached settlements with Cheetah Chief Executive Officer Sheng Fu and Ming Xu, the company's former president and chief technology officer, for allegedly selling Cheetah's American depositary shares after learning of a major shortfall in advertising revenue from the company's largest advertising partner.

Without admitting or denying the allegations, Mr. Fu agreed to pay more than half a million dollars in fines while Mr. Xu agreed to pay just over $200,000, the SEC said.

The trading allegedly occurred in 2015 and was done pursuant to so-called 10b5-1 plans, which allow executives to schedule their stock trading in advance and theoretically avoid allegations that they traded on confidential company information.

Researchers have said in recent years that the plans haven't been effective in mitigating insider trading. The SEC has made moves in the past year to curb potential abuses.

"While trading pursuant to 10b5-1 plans can shield employees from insider trading liability under certain circumstances, these executives' plan did not comply with the securities laws because they were in possession of material nonpublic information when they entered into it," said Joseph Sansone, head of the enforcement division's market abuse unit.

Cheetah Mobile is a Beijing-based mobile internet company. Its shares were down 3% to $2.82 in premarket trading.

Write to Dean Seal at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 21, 2022 09:37 ET (13:37 GMT)

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