Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have both made plans to sell 5 million shares apiece, for a combined total worth of $5.5 billion. Both Larry and Sergey plan to sell their shares over the next five years, taking them from roughly 59 percent combined voting power of Google to about 48 percent.
The sudden sale of their shares is part of their “...respective long-term strategies for individual asset diversification and liquidity.”
With both Larry and Sergey giving up roughly 9 percent of their power, that drops them to about 48 percent voting power, meaning they could potentially be out-voted if the shareholders make a combined effort to over throw the two. However, CEO Eric Schmidt still maintains a 10 percent stake in Google, so the trio will still have a combined power vote of 58 percent.
The likelihood of the Google co-founders being out-voted is very unlikely, but the possibility is still very present after the sale of the shares.
You can own a piece of Google for just $547.30 a share, the closing price for Google (GOOG) on Friday.