ASTS
Rakuten’s ASTS cash-out
Rakuten Group, Rakuten Mobile, and Hiroshi Mikitani sold 3.04 million shares of AST SpaceMobile Class A common stock on April 14 and 15, collecting roughly $270 million. That’s not pocket change — that’s “new yacht, old yacht, and a backup yacht” money.
Why the market cares
When a big shareholder trims a position this aggressively, investors usually ask one question: is this just portfolio housekeeping, or does someone know something the rest of us don’t? In ASTS’s case, the sale lands after the stock has ripped 289% over the past year, so some profit-taking was probably always lurking around the corner.
The catch
AST SpaceMobile is still a volatility machine. The company isn’t expected to be profitable this year, which means sentiment can swing harder than a pendulum in a storm.
- Big insider-style sale: about $270 million
- Timing: April 14-15, 2026
- Context: ASTS has been a massive winner, but it’s still not an easy name to value
Big picture: if you own ASTS, this doesn’t automatically scream disaster — but it does remind you that even the dreamiest growth story can get a little less dreamy when early backers hit the sell button.