Matt Comyn offloads $8.4m worth of CBA shares amid separation from his wife

Executives sell shares in their own companies all the time. So when Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn offloaded about $8.4 million worth of shares last week, we didn’t think much of it.

But that was before we knew that Comyn and his wife, Lucy , were working through the terms of their separation , which CBD brought word of on Tuesday, after the Commonwealth Bank confirmed the couple had split.

The disclosure, which was released to the market on August 14, showed Comyn acquired a tick over 30,000 shares as a result of vested equity earned as part of his remuneration. Then there were two tranches of shares sold. The first tranche sold 30,006 shares at $168.18 per share, worth a little over $5 million. The second sold 20,091 shares at $168.80, worth about $3.4 million.

All up, the share movement leaves Comyn’s direct shareholding about the same as it was the day before, and is not out of step with his previous share sales, which have occurred at least once a year since 2022. A Commonwealth Bank spokesman declined to comment on whether Comyn’s share sale this month was related to his separation.

But our guess is the sale, the second tranche of which was jointly held by Comyn and his wife as beneficiaries of a trust, freed up a helpful chunk of cash for whatever costs are racked up through the separation, and, of course, may make it easier for the couple to split their assets.

Politically activated comedian Dave Hughes is ramping up his Liberals spruiking tour and will join Williamstown candidate Paul Lindemann for a Pub Talks event next month.

While he continues to rule out ever standing for a seat and is not a Liberal Party member, Hughesy is in full campaign mode, and the more criticism he attracts for his anti-Labor rants and corruption-busting call-outs, the more he is leaning into his political epiphany.

He’s a preacher who has found his pulpit and is relentless. He’s had plenty of experience over the years doing press roll-outs for TV shows and his stand-up tours, so in some ways, pumping up Jess Wilson and the Libs’ tyres is just another type of publicity push for the former radio host.

“I think the Liberals are our best bet right now,” Hughesy told CBD last week when confirming he would back Wilson in November’s state election.

Hughesy will be unleashed with Lindemann at a yet-to-be-revealed location on September 16. This is no laughing matter.

“I’ve known him a long time, ” Lindemann said of his Hughesy connection when CBD called.

“I used to work in real estate in Altona and he was always looking for a property in the area. He never actually bought anything off me, but he was always enquiring.

“I’ve been trying to nail him down for a while and finally he said, ‘All right, I’ll do it’.”

Meanwhile, in an inevitable coming together of celebrities piping up about politics, Hughesy turned up where else but on Karl Stefanovic ’s podcast on Wednesday night.