Qwest executive vice president of operations Barry Allen, who is retiring at the end of this month, has exercised 1 million stock options and sold the shares for a pretax profit of roughly $5.37 million.
Allen exercised the options at prices ranging from $3.44 to $6.15 and sold the shares for prices ranging from $9.52 to $9.62.
The transactions, which accounted for Allen’s remaining vested stock options, occurred Thursday and were disclosed in a filing with regulators late Friday.
“The insider window closed on Friday,” Qwest spokeswoman Diane Reberger said Monday. “He only has three months from the day he retires to exercise any options.”
Last week, Qwest chief executive Dick Notebaert, who helped turn around the Denver-based company over the past five years, announced he would retire as soon as the board finds his successor.
Notebaert has roughly 7 million vested stock options and owns 752,000 shares through restricted stock awards. He has six years from the day he retires to exercise his vested options, Reberger said.
Another company insider, Qwest executive vice president of mass markets Paula Kruger, exercised 100,000 options Wed nesday and sold the shares for a pretax profit of roughly $461,000.
Since the trading window closed Friday for company insiders, no Qwest officer can buy or sell company stock until another window opens shortly after second-quarter earnings are announced Aug. 1.
Qwest stock rose 6 cents to $9.67 on Monday.
Allen announced his retirement two weeks ago. He is leaving 639,000 unvested stock options on the table.
Reberger said Allen still holds the 100,000 Qwest shares he purchased in 2002 when he joined the company.
Staff writer Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com.
BARRY ALLEN
Who he is: Qwest executive vice president of operations
Stock options: 1 million
Exercise price: $3.44 to $6.15
Sell price: $9.52 to $9.62
Pretax profit: $5.37 million
DICK NOTEBAERT
Who he is: Qwest chief executive
Stock options: 7 million
Shares owned: 752,000 through restricted stock awards
