Newly appointed Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has commenced the crucial process of severing his financial ties with e-commerce giant Coupang. This strategic divestment includes resigning from the company’s board and initiating the sale of his shares, all to meticulously comply with stringent federal ethics requirements linked to his influential new role at the Federal Reserve.
On Friday, Warsh officially filed a Form 144 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), detailing his immediate plans to sell 102,363 shares of Coupang Class A stock through JP Morgan Securities. This initial transaction is currently valued at approximately $1.68 million.
This SEC filing marks the critical first phase in a broader, mandatory divestiture, mandated after the Senate successfully confirmed Warsh as the next Fed chairman earlier this week. His ethics agreement explicitly requires him to divest all his Coupang holdings within a tight 90-day window following his Senate confirmation.
The shares currently being sold were accrued through restricted stock unit awards granted to Warsh between 2021 and 2025. According to Coupang’s latest proxy filing, Warsh beneficially owned an estimated 459,000 shares. Therefore, this initial sale represents roughly 22 percent of his total equity in the company, with the remaining significant portion anticipated to be sold in successive stages. On Friday, Coupang shares closed at $16.12, reflecting a notable 53 percent decrease from their 52-week high of $34.08.
In a related development, Coupang independently confirmed Warsh’s immediate resignation from its board of directors, effective directly following the pivotal 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,” Coupang announced in its statement.
Warsh originally joined Coupang’s board in 2019, a strategic move that preceded the company’s highly anticipated New York Stock Exchange debut in 2021. During this formative period, he served as a pivotal adviser throughout its initial public offering (IPO) preparations and was a trusted confidant to Coupang founder, Bom Kim.
At the time of his appointment, Coupang publicly highlighted that Warsh’s extensive background in economics and finance would be instrumental in supporting its ambitious long-term growth strategy. Warsh, for his part, openly praised the e-commerce innovator, calling the company “at the frontier of innovation.”
However, this long-standing relationship has recently drawn heightened scrutiny as Warsh steps into his powerful leadership role at the Fed. This comes amid simmering diplomatic tensions between Washington and Seoul, primarily stemming from a major data breach that impacted over 33 million Coupang users in Korea. The U.S. has accused Korean regulators of unfairly targeting an American technology company, while Seoul firmly maintains that its regulatory actions were entirely consistent with Korean law and international standards.
