January 3, 2006 Sunnyvale, CA -- Finisar, a provider of Gigabit fiber-optic platforms for high-speed data networks, today reported that Dr. Frank Levinson, one of the company's founders, has entered into an agreement whereby he will resign as the company's chief technical officer and relinquish his title of chairman of the board. Dr. Levinson will remain on the company's board of directors and continue providing services to the company pursuant to a consulting arrangement.
Also, the company announced that Dr. Levinson had adopted a personal stock trading plan pursuant to, and intended to comply with, Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. According to a press release, under the stock trading plan, Dr. Levinson plans to sell up to 8.5 million shares of Finisar common stock, which represents approximately 33% of his total holdings, including vested stock options, over a 2-year period commencing on January 3, 2006, as part of a strategy for personal financial and estate planning purposes. Sales will be made at predetermined stock prices set forth in the plan over this period of time.
Rule 10b5-1 allows corporate officers and directors to adopt written, prearranged stock trading plans when they are not in possession of material, non-public information. Shares sold pursuant to the plan adopted by Dr. Levinson will be disclosed publicly through Form 144 and Form 4 filings as required by the SEC.