Eric Schmidt could sell stock to get $2.5 billion

A recent SEC filing shows that Google Executive chairman Eric Schmidt could sell up to 42 percent of his stock in the company to get himself a tasty $2.5 billion.

Schmidt owned 7.6 million shares in December and could sell 3.2 million shares over the course of the year in order to reduce market impact. The Friday closing price of $785.37, if held, would translate into $2.51 billion.

If he goes ahead with the plan, it would drop Schmidt's holdings in the company significantly. Sergey Brin owns 8.5 percent of the voting power, and CEO Larry page owns 8.7 percent. Eric Schmidt has 8.2 percent of the companies voting power.

Some financial analysts are claiming that Schmidt may be thinking of leaving Google to seek a position as a U.S. diplomat or ambassador.

Last year Schmidt sold 2.4 million shares for around $1.5 billion, cutting his shares in the company from 2.8 percent to 2.1 percent. This sale was conducted through the same trading plan that Schmidt will use for his next sale.

Schmidt earns $1.25 million a year as executive chairman of Google. According to Forbes, he was worth $7.5 billion last September. He stepped down as CEO in April 2011 to take the new position of executive chairman.

Kitguru says: Whatever way you look at it, he is a very wealthy man.

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