It may be quite a while before it’s possible say for sure whether Eric Schmidt chose a new position or was asked to step down, but in the meantime, no one needs to feel sorry for him.  The soon-to-be ex-CEO of Google has submitted paperwork to clear the way for a stock sale worth about $334 million.

A statement Google sent to the SEC indicated, "Eric intends to sell approximately 534,000 shares of Class A common stock."  Multiply that number by $625.50 (the current price of Google’s shares, although that’s sure to fluctuate), and the result’s $334.02 million.

That’s a pretty large sum of money, and more than enough for a person to retire on.  Investors shouldn’t worry that Schmidt’s giving up on Google, though, as the trades are supposed to take place over the course of one year, not one week or one day.

Also, the SEC filing noted, "If Eric completes all the planned sales under this trading plan, he would continue to own approximately 8.7 million shares, which would represent approximately 2.7% of Google’s outstanding capital stock and approximately 9.1% of the voting power of Google’s outstanding capital stock (assuming no other sales and conversions of Google capital stock occur)."

The 534,000 shares aren’t much more than a drop in the bucket, then.

Hat tip goes to Joseph Tartakoff.