Google owners to sell 10 million shares

The two billionaire co-founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, will each sell five million of their Google shares, website Mashable.com reported on Friday night (EST).

Page and Brin stated their intention to sell 10 million Google shares over the next five years in paperwork submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Currently the two men own approximately 57.7 million shares of Google – about 18 per cent of Google’s market value and 59 per cent of the voting power.

Once the sell-off is complete they will own about 47.7 million shares, which equates to about 15 per cent of Google’s capital stock and 48 per cent of its voting power.

Although the pair would be technically surrendering their voting control of Google, every other shareholder in the company would need to vote against them to overturn key decisions.

The shares are currently worth about $2.25 billion, based on the present share value of Google, which is $550.01.

It has been speculated that the sell-off would enable the pair to diversify and invest in other endeavours.