By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

The timing could not have been better for WWE's stock price to increase for top executive Stephanie McMahon, who grossed about $2.2 million in a stock sale at the beginning of the week.

Back on May 29, WWE filed an SEC document detailing a new stock trading plan for Stephanie under the "Stephanie McMahon Levesque Trust u/a Vincent K. McMahon Irrev. Trust dated June 24, 2004."

The plan was set to kick in Monday (August 10), allowing for the conversion of Class B McMahon Family shares to Class A Common Stock that could be sold.

The plan calls for a maximum number of 609,733 shares to be sold from the trading period of Aug. 10 to December 31. Transactions are to be handled by a brokerage firm and will occur if "certain pre-determined minimum price conditions" are met. Those conditions are centered on WWE's share price being "above certain levels" at the time of the proposed transactions.

The conditions were apparently met, as WWE filed an SEC document on Tuesday noting several transactions that resulted in more than $2.0 million in gross proceeds for Stephanie.

- Aug. 10: 46,794 shares were traded in a series of transactions weighed at $21.64 per share. This translates to $1,012,622 in gross proceeds.

- Aug. 11: 59,137 shares were traded in a series of transactions weighed at $20.68 per share. This translates to $1,222,953 in gross proceeds.

Using the weighted average reported by WWE, the total gross over the first two days of the stock plan was about $2,235,575.

There are now 503,802 outstanding shares in the trading plan.

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May 29 Report

WWE filed an SEC document on Friday disclosing that Stephanie McMahon's trust has entered into a stock trading plan.

The reason for the document was to disclose that the trading plan is set up to adhere to insider trading rules.

WWE specifically disclosed that on May 27, the "Stephanie McMahon Levesque Trust u/a Vincent K. McMahon Irrev. Trust dated June 24, 2004" adopted a 10b5-1 stock trading plan, which will "provide for the sale of Class B common stock" held by the Trust.

Because Stephanie McMahon is an executive and Board member, WWE noted that the "foregoing trading plan is intended to comply with Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act."

The Rule allows individuals who are "not in possession of material, non-public information" at the time of a stock trading plan being set up to "pre-arrange written plans to buy or sell a specified number of shares of a company’s stock."

The plan is set to begin on August 10 and expires on December 31. The plan calls for a maximum number of 609,733 shares to be sold. Transactions will be handled by a brokerage firm and will occur if "certain pre-determined minimum price conditions" are met. Those conditions are centered on the share price being "above certain levels" at the time of the proposed transactions.

WWE added: "The plan provides for sales spread out over a set period of time with the goals of gradually diversifying the individual (Stephanie)'s investment portfolio, while maintaining such individual’s compliance with the Company’s stock ownership guidelines and limiting market impact from such stock sales."

WWE is trying to cover its bases by setting up the investment plan 2-3 months in advance to comply with the insider trading rules. The idea being Stephanie would not have access to "material, non-public information" that will occur in August right now in May.

It essentially takes the decision-making out of Stephanie's hands on whether to buy or sell WWE stock by setting up pre-determined transactions, thus avoiding a breach of Stephanie's fiduciary duty to shareholders as an executive and Board member.

WWE closed: "Transactions under the foregoing trading plan will be disclosed publicly through Form 4 and Form 144 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, to the extent required by law."

This is a story to pay attention to in August when the plan goes into place.

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