Google's Page and Brin to Reduce Personal Holdings by 10 Million Shares over 5 Years; Though Not a Sign of Long-Term Price Erosion, POTC Believes it's Definitely a Bearish Technical and Psychological Development in the Short-Run ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)-Google Inc. GOOG: http://www.ino.com/info/196/CD3415/quotes.ino.com%252Fanalysis%252Ftrend%252F%3Fsymb=NASDAQ_GOOG/
co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin each intend 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.

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Under the trading plan, the co-founders would reduce their combined holdings in Google from about 57.7 million common shares, or approximately 18% of outstanding capital stock, to 47.7 million shares, or about 15% of the company, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange filing.
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Under the stock trading plan, adopted on Nov. 30, 2009, the two would also reduce their combined voting shares from 59% to about 48%, the filing said.
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"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.
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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."
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Page and Brin in November 2004 revealed an 18-month plan under which they each sold 7.2 million shares.
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Google's shares slid 0.4% to $548.10 in after-hours trading. The stock has jumped 80% in the past year but is down 11% in 2010.
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-By Scott Morrison, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-6118; scott.morrison@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 25, 2010 07:37 ET (12:37 GMT)
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