Morgan Stanley's executive chairman Gorman sells shares worth $4.4 million

(Reuters) -Morgan Stanley's Executive Chairman James Gorman sold shares of the bank worth roughly $4.4 million on the open market, a regulatory filing showed on Friday.

Gorman, who had been Morgan Stanley's CEO since 2010 before relinquishing the role at the start of the year, sold 50,000 common stock priced at about $87.93 each.

Earlier this month, Morgan Stanley shares slid after its fourth-quarter profit took a hit from $535 million in charges, though its revenue beat expectations as investment banking rebounded.

In October, Ted Pick won the race to succeed Gorman as the CEO of one of Wall Street's biggest investment banks.

Gorman joined Morgan Stanley in February 2006 and was named co-president the following year. As the 2008 financial crisis unfolded, threatening to topple some of Wall Street's biggest firms, Gorman had a front-row seat alongside then-CEO John Mack.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)