by Rob Welham
BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are each intending to sell about 5 million shares of the Internet search giant as part of a five-year stock trading plan, the company said in a regulatory filing Friday.
The stock sale means they will no longer have majority control. Their 59 percent voting rights will be reduced to 48 percent when the sale is completed. However, chief executive Eric Schmidt has not announced any selling of stocks and would retain his has 10 percent voting power.
Under the trading plan, the co-founders would reduce their combined holdings in Google from about 57.7 million common shares, or approximately 18 percent of outstanding capital stock, to 47.7 million shares, or about 15 percent of the company, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange filing.
"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," the filing said. Such plans are widely used by company founders to gradually diversify their investment portfolios.
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."
Google's shares slid 0.4 percent to 548.10 U.S. dollars in after-hours trading Friday. The stock has jumped 80 percent in the past year but is down 11 percent in 2010.
(Agencies)
