Oilfield-services giant Baker Hughes recently sold $79 million of shares of artificial-intelligence firm C3.ai. Baker Hughes remains C3.ai’s third-largest shareholder.
Thossaphol Somsri/Dreamstime
One of C3.ai’s largest investors has been selling shares of the provider of artificial-intelligence software after a recent swoon.
A unit of oilfield-services giant Baker Hughes (ticker: BKR) has sold 1.23 million C3.ai (AI) shares from April 7 through April 22 for a total of $79.2 million, an average price per share of $64.24, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Baker Hughes had been an early investor in C3.ai, and owned 10.8 million shares, an 11.7% stake, after the artificial-intelligence software firm’s December initial public offering.
Baker Hughes declined to comment on the stock sales. It remains C3.ai’s third-largest shareholder with 9.6 million shares, or 9.5%, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Baker Hughes has already recouped its original investment in C3.ai with the stock sales. According to regulatory filings, It paid a total of $69.5 million in June 2019 for pre-IPO shares that were then converted into publicly traded C3.ai common shares.
Editor’s Choice
C3.ai stock still sports a healthy gain from the $42 IPO price, despite shares that have been slumping in recent months. C3.ai stock has hit a 2020 high of $169 in February, but is now trading at around $66 a share.
Lorenzo Simonelli, chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes, has been a C3.ai director since August 2019. The two companies also have a strategic-collaboration agreement under which Baker Hughes has committed to pay C3.ai about $400 million through April 30, 2024.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.
