Rakuten Mobile Initiates Plan to Sell Half Its AST SpaceMobile Stake, Sells $440M in Shares
ASTS has more than doubled off its 52-week low of $20.26.
Summary
Rakuten Mobile, a major institutional investor and former affiliate, has established a trading plan to sell up to 15.5 million shares, representing approximately half of its holdings, and has already sold $440.8 million worth of shares.
Key Events · Ownership and Investor Activity · ASTS
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Trading Plan Established
Rakuten Mobile entered into a trading plan to sell up to 15,510,077 shares of Class A Common Stock, representing approximately 5.3% of outstanding shares and half of its total holdings.
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Significant Share Sales
Rakuten Mobile sold 4,940,000 shares for a total of approximately $440.8 million between April 14-16, 2026, as part of the new trading plan.
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Reduced Ownership Stake
Following these sales, Rakuten Mobile's beneficial ownership stands at 26,080,155 shares, or 8.9% of Class A Common Stock.
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Former Board Member's Affiliation
Hiroshi Mikitani, founder and CEO of Rakuten Group, resigned from AST SpaceMobile's Board of Directors on January 13, 2026, preceding this significant divestment plan.
Analysis · ASTS · Technology
Rakuten Mobile, along with Rakuten Group and Hiroshi Mikitani (who resigned from AST SpaceMobile's board in January), has initiated a significant reduction in its stake in AST SpaceMobile. The establishment of a trading plan to sell up to 15.5 million shares, representing 5.3% of outstanding Class A Common Stock and roughly half of Rakuten's total holdings, signals a strategic re-evaluation by a key early investor. The reported sales of approximately $440.8 million over three days further confirm this divestment. This move by a major institutional holder, especially following Mikitani's board resignation, could be interpreted as a lack of conviction in the long-term prospects or a strategic rebalancing of their portfolio, despite recent positive operational news regarding satellite launches and successful capital raises.
How filings like this one have moved
In the 30 days to Sep 21, 2026, 34.9% of the 999 measured filings Wiseek scored 8 moved their stock by 5% or more by the next session's close. The median move was -0.43%. These are measured outcomes after filings of this importance, not a forecast for this one.
Measured one observation per ticker per day, after exclusions. Current figures: Filing Impact Tracker · open dataset
At the time of this filing, ASTS was trading at $91.10 on NASDAQ in the Technology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $34.7B. The 52-week trading range was $20.26 to $129.89. This filing was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10.