The FINANCIAL — Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page disclosed on Friday that they are selling 10 million of their shares. The stock sale is part of a five-year stock trading plan.
According to The New York Times, the sales, if completed, would provide each of the founders $2.75 billion based on Friday’s closing price of $550.01.
Under a five-year stock trading plan, Page and Brin, who met at Stanford University in the US in 1995 before starting Google, each intend to sell about 5 million shares, reports The Australian.
The plan would cut their combined holding from about 18 per cent to 15 per cent, according to news.com.au. "These pre-arranged stock trading plans were adopted in order to allow Larry and Sergey to sell a portion of their Google stock over time as part of their respective long-term strategies for individual asset diversification and liquidity," Google said in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Under the stock trading plan, adopted on Nov. 30, 2009, the two would also reduce their combined voting shares from 59% to about 48%, the filing said, as The Wall Street Journal informs.
According to the same source, a Google spokesperson said Page, who serves as president overseeing products, and Brin, who is president overseeing technology, are "both as committed as ever to Google and are integrally involved in our day-to-day management and product strategy. The majority of their net worth remains with Google."
The New York Times reports that the new sale plan follows a similar 18-month plan initiated in 2004 under which Page and Brin each sold 7.2 million shares each and Schmidt sold 2.2 million shares.
Under Google’s dual-class stock structure, the Class B shares owned by the founders and the chief executive have 10 votes for each share, according to the same source. Upon sale, they are converted to Class A shares with a single vote for each share.
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