Kevin Warsh has begun severing his ties to e-commerce giant Coupang, resigning from the board and moving to sell shares in the company to comply with federal ethics requirements tied to his new role as Federal Reserve chairman.
Warsh filed a Form 144 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday disclosing plans to sell 102,363 shares of Coupang Class A stock through JP Morgan Securities, valued at roughly $1.68 million.
The filing marks the first step in a broader divestiture after the Senate confirmed Warsh as Fed chairman Wednesday. Under the ethics agreement tied to his appointment, he is required to divest his Coupang holdings within 90 days of his Senate confirmation.
The shares being sold were accumulated through restricted stock unit awards granted between 2021 and 2025. According to Coupang's latest proxy filing, Warsh beneficially owned about 459,000 shares, meaning the initial sale represents roughly 22 percent of his total holdings, with the remainder expected to be sold in stages. Coupang shares closed at $16.12 on Friday, down 53 percent from their 52-week high of $34.08.
Coupang separately disclosed that Warsh resigned from its board effective immediately following the Senate vote.
"He will no longer stand for re-election as a director at the company's upcoming annual meeting of stockholders, no votes received will be counted for or against the election of Mr. Warsh to the board, and the board will reduce the size of the board by one director," the company said.
Warsh joined Coupang's board in 2019, ahead of the company's New York Stock Exchange debut in 2021, serving as a key adviser during its initial public offering preparations and a trusted confidant to founder Bom Kim.
Coupang said at the time that Warsh's background in economics and finance would help support its long-term growth strategy. Warsh, for his part, praised the company as being "at the frontier of innovation."
The relationship has drawn fresh scrutiny as Warsh prepares to lead the Fed amid simmering tensions between Washington and Seoul over a data breach affecting more than 33 million Coupang users in Korea. The US has accused Korean regulators of unfairly targeting an American technology company, while Seoul has maintained that its actions were fully in line with Korean law.
minmin@heraldcorp.com
