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Google billionaires

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
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Elinor Mills

In the last few weeks as Google's share price has hit record levels topping $430 Google executives have been getting richer off stock sales.

"As of late November, a total of 14 Google executives and directors had pocketed a combined $4.3 billion by selling 18.6 million of their shares so far this year, according to Thomson Financial," said an article Friday in the San Francisco Chronicle.

"The biggest winners have been Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who have each collected nearly $1.3 billion by selling 5.3 million of their individual shares in an automated trading program.

"Even after those sales, Securities and Exchange Commission records show Page and Brin still owned another 33 million Google shares -- stakes currently worth more than $13 billion apiece."

Wow!