14 DAY TRIAL // Google is run by a triumvirate where cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page share the responsibilities with CEO Eric Schmidt. The formula has worked so far and the three are united in all big decisions the company makes. The relationship may be put under test in the future though as the two cofounders plan to sell a rather significant portion of the shares in Google lowering their joint voting rights to just below 50 percent but netting them $5.5 billion at the current trading price.
The two plan to sell five million Google shares over the next five years, as they disclosed in a regulatory SEC filing last week. With Google shares trading at $550 on Friday, this would amount to $2.75 billion in cash for each, not an insignificant amount of money. Page and Brin own a combined 57.7 million shares in Google, so they would be selling off 17 percent of their stock. This will be enough to lower their voting rights to 48 percent losing the majority in the process.
This may sound like a risky move at first but, practically, the two have little to worry about. While they hold a big chunk of the Google stock, the rest of the shares are rather scattered and it would take quite a bit of effort to rally everyone against them. Adding to this the fact that Eric Schmidt has a further 10 percent of the votes, it seems unlikely that anyone would be able to oppose them even after losing the majority. Google operates under a dual-class stock structure whereas shares owned by the two cofounders, class A, hold 10 times the voting rights as regular class B shares. Upon sale, their shares lose their privileged voting rights.
In a statement, Jane Penner, Google spokeswoman said that the founders “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. These prearranged 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.”