shares

Former Google chief executive officer and current executive chairman Eric Schmidt has been given the option to sell off almost half of his shares in the search firm. The company says that's no reason to be concerned, however. Until recently, Schmidt ... owned roughly 7.6 million Google shares, representing 2.3 per cent of Google's outstanding capital stock. That gave Schmidt roughly 8 per cent of the firm's voting power. Former CEO Stands to Make $2.5 Billion from Stock Sale However, late last year he adopted a new stock trading plan that opened up the option of selling an estimated 3.2 million ... (view more)

A major software problem may have significantly limited the number of people able to purchase Facebook stock when it first became publicly available on Friday, May 18, 2012. Nasdaq has assumed total responsibility for the fiasco and says it will ... offer compensation to those negatively affected by it. By some estimates, the payouts could total as much as $13 million. Nasdaq officials had planned carefully for the huge amount of trading that was expected when Facebook stock "went live". The combination of the number of shares put up for sale and the asking price made it the third-biggest stock ... (view more)

For years, analysts have expected Facebook to become publicly traded. Now, the company confirms it will be offering at least $5 billion worth of shares, making the entire company worth as much as $100 billion. It's not yet known when those shares ... will be made available, but Facebook has formally registered the move with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The $5 billion is a preliminary figure put forward to determine the registration fee the company must pay. The actual public offering may vary, depending on whether Facebook's financial advisors believe that setting a higher initial ... (view more)

Two of the men who claim they (and not Mark Zuckerberg) created Facebook have failed in a bid to increase a previous settlement. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are stuck with the original court ruling awarding the men $20 million plus 1.25 million ... shares in the social networking firm. Twins Sue Zuckerberg for Facebook Rights As memorably depicted in the Oscar-nominated movie The Social Network, the twins sued after alleging that fellow Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, who they had hired to create a similar networking website, had unfairly stolen the idea to set up his own enterprise. Although ... (view more)

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is raising a few eyebrows within the tech industry after opting to release US $1.3 billion worth of shares in the company. The move reduces his overall shares by about 12 per cent and marks his first stock sale in the ... past seven years. Not surprisingly, many believe that the sale points to a lack of confidence in the company and creates a strong indicator that the 54-year-old executive is preparing to leave in the very near future. However, Ballmer says nothing could be further from the truth. Microsoft CEO "Fully Committed" In a statement posted on ... (view more)