by Seth Hancock at The Defender
In the week after news of the Omicron variant hit the headlines, the CEOs and major shareholders of Moderna and Pfizer made a combined $10.31 billion, according to data compiled by the UK-based Global Justice Now.
Shares of Moderna jumped 13.61% — $273.39 to $310.61 — between Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, while Pfizer shares increased 7.41% — $50.91 to $54.68, Common Dreams reported.
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel saw his shares increase from $6.1 billion to $6.9 billion, for a gain of $824 million. Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, saw gains of $339,291.
Combined with the CEOs, Moderna’s and Pfizer’s four top shareholders made about $5.16 billion, The Daily Mail reported.
The top Pfizer shareholders include Vanguard Group ($1.72 billion), Blackrock ($1.46 billion), State Street Corp. ($1.1 billion) and Capital World Investors ($909 million).
Moderna’s top shareholders are Baillie Gifford & Co. ($1.59 billion), Vanguard Group ($1 billion), Blackrock ($999.1 million) and Flagship Pioneering ($653.7 million).
As The Defender reported Nov. 30, early news reports on Omicron sent vaccine makers’ stocks soaring, after Moderna and Pfizer said they were rushing to develop vaccines for the new variant.
Moderna’s stock rose 20% on the Friday following Thanksgiving — a short trading day — while Pfizer and its vaccine partner BioNTech saw respective gains of 6% and 14%.
No evidence we need a vaccine for Omicron, but Pfizer makes the case, anyway
Global Justice Now accused Big Pharma of being responsible for the emergence of Omicron by gobbling up profits selling vaccines to wealthy countries, while refusing to share patents and making sure low-income countries get access to COVID vaccines.
Tim Bierley, the organization’s pharma campaigner, said:…
Continue Reading