- Super Micro Computer cofounder Sara Chiu-Chu Liu Liang, wife of CEO Charles Liang, offloaded all the stock she personally held in the company just days after Super Micro’s stock price rallied on the news the company had issued delinquent financial filings and was back in compliance with listing standards at Nasdaq.
A few Super Micro Computer insiders are cashing out.
This week, cofounder and senior vice president Sara Chiu-Chu Liu Liang sold off 46,293 shares of stock for a value of $2.3 million—bringing her personal stockholdings in the company to 0. Similarly, George Kao, senior vice president of operations at the server manufacturer and distributor, dumped 71,720 shares for a value of $3.6 million. And this week, both Kao and Liang were granted thousands of shares of restricted stock units—a commonly used form of equity compensation—that will vest over the next four years.
Sara Liang is the wife of CEO and cofounder Charles Liang, and through her husband she indirectly holds more than 67 million shares of company stock. Charles Liang this week was granted 1 million stock options, based on his achievement of a revenue goal. The award was initially granted in November 2023, and included 5 million shares divided into five tranches that will be doled out based on the company hitting revenue and stock price goals. Liang got the 1 million share grant based on meeting the goals.
Super Micro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Fortune 500 tech company is closely watched due to its adjacency to juggernaut Nvidia. Super Micro includes Nvidia’s famed graphics processing units in its servers and had a dazzling 3,000% stock price increase before it ran into trouble in 2024.
The company was hit with a short-seller report from Hindenburg Research alleging questionable accounting practices. Just months later, the company’s auditor, EY, quit noisily and claimed there were concerns with the integrity of management. The company investigated EY’s allegations and said it found no evidence of accounting issues. It later hired BDO USA as its new auditor.
This week, the company finally issued delinquent financial filings that prevented Nasdaq from delisting Super Micro stock. Super Micro blamed the delinquent financial reports on EY.
“Due to EY’s stated concerns and subsequent resignation, we were unable to timely file our Annual Report and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2024,” the company said in its report on Tuesday to investors.
Charles Liang this week said issuing the reports was key and that the company would now turn its attention to hitting a $40 billion revenue target for 2025. However, the company faces ongoing investigations from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice. It has also been hit with at least five lawsuits due to the delay in its financial filings.
“Today’s filings represent an important milestone,” said Liang in a statement. “With our financial reporting now current, we can now fully focus on executing our proven winning growth strategy through technology, product and solution innovations, time-to-market advantage, global footprint, and green computing.”
