Incoming U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh in process of selling $1.68M worth of Coupang shares
Kevin Warsh, the incoming chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, testifies before a U.S. Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 21. [REUTERS/YONHAP]
Incoming U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is selling his shares in the Korean e-commerce giant Coupang before taking office, according to a disclosure posted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
The divestment can be seen as an effort to avoid violating the Federal Reserve’s strict ethics standards.
Warsh is in the process of
selling 102,363 class A shares in Coupang, valued at roughly $1.68 million at current market prices.
The shares were originally awarded to Warsh as restricted stock units in 2021 for his work as a director on Coupang’s board since 2019.
However, he stepped down from the board after securing Senate confirmation as the Federal Reserve chair last Wednesday, as the chair and board members of the Federal Reserve are banned from directly owning individual corporate stocks.
The divestment was, for all practical purposes, a required step before taking office.
The Coupang logo is seen in this illustration created on Feb. 11, 2025. [REUTERS/YONHAP]
As Warsh is believed to own roughly 459,000 Coupang shares in total, the latest divestment represents only about 22 percent of his holdings. The limited scope suggests an attempt to avoid rattling the market, meaning that additional divestments could follow.
Warsh’s resignation from Coupang’s board was in accordance with his appointment as the chair of the Federal Reserve, the e-commerce platform clarified, noting that Warsh did not have any disagreement over the company’s management or operations.
Since last November, Coupang has been at the center of public scrutiny after a data breach leaked the personal information of 33 million accounts. The company has been subjected to a Korean parliamentary hearing and investigation due to the incident.
Warsh, a prominent figure with deep ties across both Wall Street and Washington, is also known as the son-in-law of Ronald Lauder, the heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics fortune. Warsh’s net worth is estimated at around $200 million, making him one of the wealthiest Federal Reserve chairs in modern history.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JUNG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]