--- title: "MongoDB's Insiders Sold 99 Times in Six Months and Bought Nothing" description: "Six months of SEC Form 4s show 99 open-market insider sales of MongoDB and zero buys, led by co-founder Dwight Merriman's $28.2 million. The same month the board paid $25 million to keep the interim CEO and CFO, and Fidelity added $493 million of stock." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Markets" published: 2026-10-21T15:21:50.504Z modified: 2026-10-21T15:21:50.504Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/mongodb-s-insiders-sold-99-times-in-six-months-and-bought-nothing language: en keywords: "MongoDB, Insider Selling, SEC Filings, Institutional Investors, Atlas" --- # MongoDB's Insiders Sold 99 Times in Six Months and Bought Nothing > Six months of SEC Form 4s show 99 open-market insider sales of MongoDB and zero buys, led by co-founder Dwight Merriman's $28.2 million. The same month the board paid $25 million to keep the interim CEO and CFO, and Fidelity added $493 million of stock. ## Ninety-nine sales, not one purchase The number that should stop [MongoDB](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/mongodb) bulls: 99 open-market insider sales in the six months to October 20, and not one purchase, according to the [Form 4 tally published the same day](https://www.quiverquant.com/news/MongoDB+Shares+Gain+as+Investors+Lean+Back+Into+Its+AI+and+Growth+Story) the stock rose 3.8% on its AI growth story [1]. Co-founder Dwight Merriman accounts for 48 of them, about $28.2 million [1]. Interim CEO [Dev Ittycheria](https://theinference.org/markets/people/dev-ittycheria) booked about $15.3 million across eight sales, CFO Michael Berry about $3.5 million across 32, and [Roelof Botha](https://theinference.org/markets/people/roelof-botha) another $17.5 million [1]. *Chart: **Zero insider buys in six months: who sold MDB, and for how much** Bar chart ranking MongoDB insiders by estimated dollar value of open-market stock sales over six months, led by Dwight Merriman at $28.2 million, with no insider purchases in the period.* *Estimated value of open-market Form 4 sales, six months to October 20, 2026; sale counts were Merriman 48, Berry 32, Ittycheria 8, Botha 5. Source: Quiver Quantitative tally of SEC filings. [1]* ## The board paid the sellers to stay Five days before the tally landed, MongoDB [filed an 8-K](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1441816/000162828026065934/mdb-20261012.htm) that pays two names on that list to stay: Ittycheria receives $500,000 in salary, a $500,000 sign-on bonus and $15 million of restricted stock units, fully vested by October 1, 2027, with service guaranteed to at least April 1, 2028; Berry receives $10 million of retention RSUs vesting through April 1, 2028 [2]. [The Inference read the deal as the board pricing transition risk out to April 2028](https://theinference.org/article/mongodb-s-25-million-retention-deal-tells-you-the-board-expects-trouble-until-april-2028), the window opened by [CJ Desai's September exit for Meta](https://theinference.org/article/meta-hired-mongodb-s-ceo-mongodb-s-shareholders-got-the-bill) [2][4]. The selling ran through all of it [1]. ## Fidelity took the other side The Q2 fund ledger splits the same way [1]. Fidelity added 1.47 million shares, about $493 million; Jericho Capital emptied its whole 996,540-share stake, about $335 million; ValueAct cut 84% and Artisan 68% [1]. The bulls have receipts too: $771.8 million of revenue in the quarter ended July 31, up 30% year over year, Atlas at 73% of it, and a $28.4 million GAAP operating profit [5][7]. On October 13, [BofA](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/bank-of-america) analyst Koji Ikeda kept his Buy and $540 target and raised his fiscal 2028 and 2029 revenue estimates by 3% and 6%, to $3.65 billion and $4.39 billion [3]. *Chart: **Fidelity's $493 million add against $1.16 billion of cuts in one quarter** Bar chart of Q2 2026 institutional position changes in MongoDB: Fidelity, JPMorgan and BlackRock added, while Jericho Capital, ValueAct, Artisan and D.E. Shaw cut, with cuts outweighing adds.* *Change in MDB position value from 13F filings for the quarter ended June 30, 2026; adds to the right, cuts to the left. Source: Quiver Quantitative. [1]* ## The asterisk on the tally [Merriman's own Form 4, filed October 13, reports sales](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1441816/000162828026065755/wk-form4_1791925191.xml) on October 8 and 9 at weighted average prices of $359.90 to $377, and carries the footnote that the transactions were made pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan [6]. Plan sales execute on a schedule set months in advance. The tally does not say how many of the 99 carry that flag, and neither does any other public document [1]. BofA's own bear case, meanwhile, warns that Atlas Infinite's pay-for-what-you-use pricing "compresses Atlas spend through improved efficiency," and even the bull models Atlas growth slowing to 24% in fiscal 2028 [5]. ## What settles it Ikeda named his measuring sticks himself: Atlas revenue growth and the net expansion rate [3]. Watch those prints, and the 10b5-1 boxes on the next batch of Form 4s [3]. Merriman sold on a schedule. Fidelity bought a story. The next two Atlas reports decide who gets paid. ## Takeaway MongoDB insiders sold 99 times and bought nothing in six months, but the record is blurred: many sales may be scheduled 10b5-1 plan trades, so watch Atlas growth and the net expansion rate, not the headline count. ## Sources 1. [Quiver Quantitative, "MongoDB Shares Gain as Investors Lean Back Into Its AI and Growth Story", 20 October 2026](https://www.quiverquant.com/news/MongoDB+Shares+Gain+as+Investors+Lean+Back+Into+Its+AI+and+Growth+Story) 2. [MongoDB, Inc. Form 8-K, SEC EDGAR, filed 15 October 2026 (Ittycheria employment agreement; Berry retention award)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1441816/000162828026065934/mdb-20261012.htm) 3. [Yahoo Finance (Investing.com), "MongoDB gains as BofA highlights long-term AI strategy potential", 13 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/mongodb-gains-bofa-highlights-long-164308072.html) 4. [Seeking Alpha via MSN, "MongoDB guides for 25% Atlas growth over next three years; addresses CEO search", 30 September 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/mongodb-guides-for-25-atlas-growth-over-next-three-years-addresses-ceo-search/ar-AA2dh3O3) 5. [TheStreet via MSN, "MongoDB lets apps pay only for what they use", 14 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/tech-companies/mongodb-lets-apps-only-for-what-they-use/ar-AA2egn0J) 6. [SEC Form 4, Dwight A. Merriman (MongoDB), filed 13 October 2026, transactions of 8-9 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1441816/000162828026065755/wk-form4_1791925191.xml) 7. [MongoDB, quarterly figures from its SEC filings (retrieved 21 October 2026)](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001441816) --- MongoDB's Insiders Sold 99 Times in Six Months and Bought Nothing — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/mongodb-s-insiders-sold-99-times-in-six-months-and-bought-nothing