Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is selling Nearly 42 Percent of his Shares in the Company

According to a report from Reuters, Google’s current Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is about to sell nearly y 42 percent of his shares in the company, giving him potentially US$2.51 billion in cash.

Reuters:

[quote] Schmidt, 57, will sell 3.2 million shares of Class A common stock through a stock trading plan, Google said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

The plan, which Google said would give Schmidt “individual asset diversification and liquidity,” allows Schmidt to spread trades out over a period of one year to reduce the market impact. Shares of Google were down $4.11 at $781.26 in after-hours trading on Friday.[/quote]

There are lots of quotes from the full article indicating that there is no need to panic. Schmidt is just looking for more diversity in his investment going forward.

However, I would like to point out that the same thing was being touted last May when Scott Forstall sold 95 percent of his Apple stock.

Here is a CNET report at the time:

[quote] Apple senior vice president of iOS software, Scott Forstall, had an awfully nice payday on Friday.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that has popped up on Apple’s Web site, the executive sold off over 64,000 company shares, netting him more than $38.7 million. The sale wiped out 95 percent of his Apple stock, leaving him only 2,988 shares. But that isn’t so bad: even at today’s $584.40 share price, the holdings are worth over $1.7 million.[/quote]

And we all now know how that ended:

[quote] Apple today announced executive management changes that will encourage even more collaboration between the Company’s world-class hardware, software and services teams. As part of these changes, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will add more responsibilities to their roles. Apple also announced that Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple next year and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook in the interim.[/quote]

Then again Google fans could find solace in the fact that 42 percent is no way near the 95 percent that Forstall got rid off back then.