Larry & Sergey To Cash In $5.5B of Google Chips

theodp writes "According to an SEC filing, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have adopted five-year trading plans to sell about 5M shares each, which would yield each about $2.75B based on Friday's closing stock price of $550.01. BTW, Google kicks in 12 cents to Social Security and another 2 cents to Medicare on its founders' celebrated $1 annual salaries." After this stock is sold, the founders will hold less than 50% of the voting shares and thus will give up voting control of Google.

Comments

The SS/Medicare comment is pointless

[Just Brew It!]

The profits from selling of their shares will be considered income by the IRS, and taxed accordingly.

Re:The SS/Medicare comment is pointless

[bnenning]

Um, no.

In 2007, the top 1 percent of tax returns paid 40.4 percent of all federal individual income taxes and earned 22.8 percent of adjusted gross income.

Re:The SS/Medicare comment is pointless

[PCM2]

Until Bush's tax cuts expire later this year and Obama doesn't renew them and then NOBODY invests in the stock market because the risk just isn't worth it when 35% of your investment gains are taken away.

I trust Warren Buffet's insight more than I trust yours:

I've been around rich people all my life. And I have seen capital gains taxes close to 40 percent. No one went home at 3 in the afternoon and said, "I've worked enough, and because tax rates are so high, I think I'll go to the movies." I mean, people want to maximize their after tax income, and there's two ways to do it: Increase their income, or get Congress to lower the tax rates for them. But I have never seen anybody with capital say, "I'm going on strike. I won't invest." I've been managing capital for 50 years for other people. No one left and said, you know, "The taxation system's too tough. I think I'll just stick it all under my mattress." They can't stick under their mattress. They're going to invest their money regardless.

Re:The SS/Medicare comment is pointless

[PCM2]

Buffet is a guilty dipshit, he feels bad for being rich. He's also stupid, I don't care how rich he is.

Class A shares in Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet's investment firm) trade for $105,000 apiece. That's 190 times the price of a share of Google stock. I don't care how rich they are, nobody gives that kind of money to someone stupid.

Better Link

[beakerMeep]

Android makes impressive gains in Q4

They went from 1% to 16% in a year.

SEC filing does not = selling

[cenc]

Sorry, people but large shareholders file SEC notices like this all the time, but that does not obligate them to sell. It just allows them the option to sell.

Re:They will still control Google

[Anpheus]

He said if you don't want Google to know something, don't tell it to Google. Which is an entirely different matter. Basically, as a US corporation they fall under US laws including ones that allow the government to subpoena them and other things. Now they've resisted every request for information, but if a judge says they have to fork it over, they have to do it.

So don't tell Google information you want to remain private. It's that easy.

Re:They will still control Google

[RealTime]

Nope. One Class B share becomes one Class A share. The voting strength decreases from 10 votes per share (Class B) to 1 vote per share (Class A). All of the early Google option grants (not just the shares owned by the founders) are Class B. One of the conditions in the option grants of Class B shares is that they cannot be sold without first being converted to Class A shares.