Twitter co-founder says 'it pains me to be selling' as he unloads shares

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter (TWTR) shares are flying lower after co-founder Evan Williams announced he is selling a large chunk of his shares.

"It actually pains me to be selling at this point, but this sale is all about personal context, not company context," Williams wrote in a Medium post.

Williams sold about $4 million worth of Twitter stock this week, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Williams, who was CEO of the micro-blogging service before starting and running blogging platform Medium, intends to sell as much as 30% of his shares over the next few months, reducing his stake in the San Francisco-based company to less than 4% from about 5%, according to a report in Business Insider.

The announcement and sale sent Twitter shares down 1%, to $14.32 on Thursday.

In a statement, Twitter said Williams recently entered into a prearranged 10b5-1 stock trading plan "as part of his continued efforts to diversify his financial positions and focus on his charitable organization and other endeavors... (Ev) has been a champion of Twitter since Day 1 and intends to maintain a significant ownership position in the company. The plan is not expected to result in the sale of more than 30% of Ev’s holdings."

"I'm proud to be on the board and optimistic about the future of (Twitter)," he wrote.

Still, the news isn't likely to brighten prospects for Twitter stock, which has tumbled more than 16% in the past year. CEO Jack Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter with Williams and Biz Stone, is trying to turn around the company.

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