Zachary Jennifer 4

What Happened
Jennifer Zachary, EVP and General Counsel of Merck & Co. (MRK), received 11,583 shares as a performance-based award on January 26, 2026. The shares are recorded at $107.40 each, for a total value of approximately $1,244,014. This was a distribution of net after-tax shares following the payout of performance share units.

Key Details

• Transaction type: Award/Grant (performance share payout)
• Date: 2026-01-26; Price per share used in reporting: $107.40
• Shares received: 11,583; Reported value: ~$1,244,014
• Footnote F1: These were net-after-tax shares from performance share units granted 3/31/2023; payout was 94% of target and includes dividends accrued over the three-year performance period ending 12/31/2025.
• Footnote F2: Reported holdings include shares acquired via dividend reinvestment transactions.
• Shares owned after transaction: Not specified in the provided summary—see the Form 4 for total post-transaction holdings.
• Filing: Form 4 filed 2026-01-28 for a 2026-01-26 transaction (appears to be filed within the standard 2‑business‑day window).

Context
This was a compensation-related award (performance-share payout), not an open-market purchase or sale. Such distributions reflect fulfillment of pre-set performance criteria and include tax withholding (net-after-tax shares) and accrued dividends; they are standard executive compensation events and do not by themselves indicate a personal bullish or bearish trade.