Overstock boss ‘still in the game’ as he dumps stock

Patrick Byrne, the CEO of US online retailer Overstock, has sold 10% of his shares.

"I've cashed in 1/10 of my chips (most of it, to reinvest next to you)," Byrne said in an open letter to shareholders this week. "Don't worry, I'm still in the game, and we're going to bring this House to its knees." He signed it "your humble servant”.

According to a form 4 SEC filing, he dumped around $15.8 million worth of shares as of Thursday and Friday, and then $4.9 million worth on Monday, totalling more than $20 million. Overstock, the first major retail company to accept Bitcoin as a payment method, subsequently saw its share price fall 12%.

The cash will be used to "fund sidecar investments with the company," and will be reinvested in Overstock and its subsidiary Medici Ventures. "Thus, I am eating a double dose of my own cooking, as months ago I promised you I would” (he first disclosed plans to sell stock in a March SEC filing).

Blame Bitcoin

Overstock’s stock is down significantly this year, something Byrne blames in part on struggling cryptocurrencies.

"I sadly note that over the last 180 days the correlation between OSTK's and Bitcoin's daily movements has been 85.5%, and again warn people: we don't have significant holdings of Bitcoin," he said.