Billabong founder buys more shares

Gordon Merchant, Billabong founder, board member and largest shareholder, is taking advantage of the low Billabong stock price to buy more shares on the open market.

According to a filing, Merchant acquired a total of 900,000 shares on Oct. 18 and 19 when the company’s stock price fell to 83 cents and 85 cents respectively. He paid a total of $754,000 for the stock.

Merchant now owns 70,605,521 shares, worth approximately $60 million based on the stock’s closing price today in Australia.

A year ago, those shares would have been worth $254 million.

Another member of the board of directors, Sally Anne Majella Pitkin, also bought Billabong stock in last week. Pitkin purchased 70,000 shares for $57,300. Pitkin joined the board in February of this year and previously held no Billabong stock, according the filing.