Eric Schmidt to Sell $335 Million of His Google Shares

Ho, hum. Of course they are selling. And will continue to sell. This is perfectly normal for the big insiders in any successful tech company. Because of portfolio diversification.<p>Back when Microsoft dominated the industry every year there would be similar stories about all of the Microsoft insiders who were selling shares. People who didn't understand would jump up and down. People who did, would know that it was entirely expected and a non-story.<p>In a few years you can expect to hear the same about Facebook.

Note to Googlers.<p>If there's one thing I learned from working in Yahoo during its crazy rise in the early 2000's, it's that you should sell when your founders / CEO sell!<p>Our stocks were almost doubling every 6 months, we thought we were invincible! Many of my colleagues joined when Yahoo stocks were at its highest, so they were holding off for more gain. I was lucky enough to have joined when it was close to its lowest at $9 a share, so I happily sold some. Boy am I glad I did.

I think the impressive thing about the story is that he'll still own over $5.4 billion in Google shares which represents 2.7% of the company.

I never know what to think of CEOs, founders, and large institutional shareholders selling a proportion of their stock. Everyone seeks to cite a benign reason for selling, they wouldn't want to hurt their investment, but inherently isn't selling a sign of a lack of confidence?<p>The article cites the idea of diversification - which at face-value seems harmles - , but is this a lack of confidence in the stock? Diversification implies to minimize risk, and that is reasonable only if Eric Schmidt thinks that there is significant risk that Google will underperform market (or at least his expectation of return in a different investment). Unless he has a specific purpose in mind with his extra cash-flow, I would imagine this can only reflect poorly on Google's future expectations.<p>Here's to hoping that Eric Schmidt only wants to live extravagantly for next couple of years.

Interesting timing, to say the least...

Wow that's a shitload of money, but he did a great work during the decade of being CEO.

when does a major company post huge numbers - only to shitcan their CEO and bring back a co-founder? there is a lot of damage control in the media, but companies don't just 'do this sort of thing'

Why is everyone talking about diversification, when this could point to something altogether?<p>What if he leaves the company to go work for a competitor, and to own those shares would reflect a conflict of interest?<p>I'm looking at you, Steve.<p>FTA he's not cutting a materially significant stake, but it's fun to speculate.<p>N.B. Just because insiders are selling shares does not make the stock a sale. The market's seen record sales from insiders during this entire market rally.

see my post yesterday...

For a little "walking around money".<p>But I imagine it's for liquidity's sake. Why would he think that the thing he has the most control in would stop being the best thing to invest in? It's like someone who owns a bagel shop selling some shares to own part of a coffee shop down the way.<p>Unless there are things out of Google's control that are coming, which might change the valuation. Or more importantly, impact their profit potential/share value increase potential?

With 335MM, you can spend 31K every single day for the next 30 years.