Why Eric Schmidt Is Really Selling $1.5B Shares

Eric Schmidt plans to sell 2.4 million of his Google shares—$1.5 billion worth—over the next year, recent filings show, and the Google chairman claims it's because he wants to diversify his investments and raise money. But rumors are flying that Schmidt is actually raising the cash to settle his upcoming divorce from wife Wendy. "He’s … working toward a transition and an amicable separation and settlement with his wife," a source tells the New York Post. "They are both very private, so they’re quietly dividing up assets without drawing attention. There’s been no paperwork filed."

Schmidt has been dating Lisa Shields, a top exec at the Council on Foreign Relations, for a year and a half, and the source says he spends a lot of time with her in New York and recently bought her a show-jumping horse. (More Eric Schmidt stories.)