What Does the Simultaneous Share Sale by CEO and COO Signal for Oklo Amid Regulatory Approvals?
On January 9 (local time), Oklo Inc. (NASDAQ: OKLO) co-founders and executives—CEO Jacob DeWitte and COO Caroline Cochran—each sold a large block of their common shares, according to the Form 4 filings the company submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 13. The trades were executed under a 10b5-1 plan established in March 2025, with share prices ranging from about $111 to $113. Each executive sold roughly $5 million of stock, combining personal holdings and related trusts (including GRATs and family trusts). Even after these sales, DeWitte and Cochran retain tens of millions of shares through direct ownership and multiple family and trust accounts. With key regulatory approvals and commercialization milestones on the horizon, investors will watch closely to see whether the insider sales reflect a need for liquidity or a signal that the shares may have peaked.
Oklo is a publicly traded U.S. nuclear technology company developing Aurora, a fast-fission microreactor that generates power by recycling used nuclear fuel. The company has secured site usage rights and fuel supply through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and has filed its first combined operating license application (COLA) with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its advanced small modular reactor. In 2025, Oklo won three awards under DOE’s new Reactor Pilot Program, aiming to achieve criticality of its demonstration reactor by July 4, 2026. Separately, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Oklo is advancing a privately financed, $1.68 billion advanced fuel center—the first U.S. facility dedicated to recycling spent fuel and manufacturing advanced reactor fuels—partnering with the Tennessee Valley Authority and others to establish integrated fuel and power supply models.
On the business development front, Oklo has been forging high-profile partnerships to bolster its market presence. On January 9, Meta Platforms announced a joint initiative with Oklo to develop up to 1.2 GW of next-generation reactor capacity for long-term power supply to data centers in Ohio and beyond—marking Oklo’s first binding power purchase agreement. In 2025, Oklo signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power to standardize the Aurora Powerhouse design and build a global manufacturing and supply chain, including simultaneous overseas licensing and production assessments. The company also teamed up with Lightbridge to explore co-location opportunities for fabricating advanced fuels from legacy materials like spent fuel and separated plutonium. As Oklo navigates lengthy regulatory reviews and constructs critical fuel infrastructure, the timing of these strategic partnerships, project selections and the recent insider share sales could have a material impact on its valuation and future capital costs.