Sivers Semiconductors: Insider Sell-Off Accelerates as Short Sellers Go Quiet

Sivers Semiconductors shares plunge 60% amid insider selling after lock-up expiry, CEO buying, and short sellers reducing bets, leaving investors with mixed signals.

The dramatic reversal in Sivers Semiconductors shares has entered a new phase, with conflicting signals from company insiders and short sellers creating an unusually opaque picture for investors. The stock, which tumbled more than 60 percent over the past 30 trading days, closed Friday at €2.83 — a 6.35 percent decline on the day — as the fallout from a June accounting controversy continues to weigh on sentiment.

The week’s 11.45 percent loss brought the one-month rout to 60.69 percent, erasing the bulk of a staggering 1,700 percent rally that had made the Swedish photonics and wireless technology company one of the most heavily shorted stocks in the Nordic market. At its peak, the market capitalization briefly touched €2.2 billion; it now stands at roughly €1.01 billion.

Lock-Up Expiry Unleashes Insider Sales

The most recent catalyst for selling pressure came on July 21, when a lock-up agreement tied to the company’s April 2026 capital raise officially expired. Board members and executives had been barred from selling shares until July 16, and several moved swiftly once the restriction lifted.

Chairman Bami Bastani was among the most active sellers. He donated 60,000 shares to charitable organizations, gifted 70,000 to family members, and sold a further 275,000 shares on July 16. After these transactions, Bastani retains 381,360 shares, of which 11,360 are subject to a new one-year lock-up.

Director Todd Thomson went even further. Through his investment vehicle Headwaters Capital, he sold 950,000 shares by July 22 and gifted an additional 50,000 to a charity. Thomson remains the largest insider shareholder with 477,027 shares. Separately, Kairos Ventures — which Thomson represents on the board — liquidated its entire stake acquired through the 2022 Mixcomm acquisition, with the fund’s investment committee opting to distribute proceeds to investors.

Providing a rare counterpoint, CEO Vickram Vathulya purchased 70,000 additional shares, bringing his total holdings to 4,540,076 shares plus 3.7 million employee options. The divergence between the chairman and director selling while the CEO bought has left the market without a clear directional signal from management.

Short Sellers Quietly Exit

Adding to the ambiguity, two prominent hedge funds have reduced their bearish bets during the stock’s free fall. Two Sigma Investments lowered its short position below Sweden’s 0.5 percent reporting threshold, following Voleon Capital, which had previously trimmed its own bet against the stock.

Only one publicly disclosed short seller remains, though aggregate short interest still hovers near 3 percent of outstanding shares. The retreat of individual funds could signal a genuine shift in sentiment — or simply reflect position squaring ahead of the upcoming blackout period. The persistence of elevated short interest suggests the broader skepticism toward the company’s growth narrative has not dissipated.

Accounting Allegations Trigger Legal Scrutiny

The root cause of the sell-off traces back to June, when short seller Ningi Research published a report accusing Sivers of violating IFRS accounting standards. According to the report, at least 97 million Swedish kronor — roughly 31 percent of 2025 annual revenue — had been booked improperly, including revenue for products never manufactured and government subsidies recorded as commercial sales.

The allegations have attracted attention from U.S. law firms, which are now evaluating potential securities class actions on behalf of shareholders. The company has yet to issue a detailed public response to the specific accounting claims.

Blackout Period Adds to Uncertainty

Starting July 28, a closed period under the EU Market Abuse Regulation will prohibit all insider trading until the release of second-quarter results on August 27. This means the conflicting signals from recent insider activity — Bastani and Thomson selling while Vathulya bought — will be the last management-led clues investors receive for weeks.

The April capital raise that triggered the lock-up brought in approximately 700 million Swedish kronor through the placement of 12,280,701 new shares at 57 kronor each, a deal that was multiple times oversubscribed by Swedish and international institutional investors.

The stock now trades 72.63 percent below its year high of €10.23, reached in early June. The 14-day relative strength index sits at 35.3, approaching oversold territory but without any clear reversal pattern emerging.

With short sellers stepping back, insiders moving in opposite directions, and a trading ban about to silence management entirely, the August 27 earnings report has become the single most important event on the calendar — the first concrete test of whether the company’s revenue quality can withstand months of controversy and a 60 percent share price collapse.