Google's Schmidt selling $2.5 billion in stock

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Schmidt, who was Google's CEO from 2001-2011, will sell up to 3.2 million shares of Google stock, worth about $2.5 billion, according to a filing with the SEC late Friday.

That would leave him with 4.4 million shares, or a 1.3% stake, and 5% voting power. That's a little more than half of what he owned at the end of last year.

Schmidt owned 7.6 million shares, which gave him 8.2% of the voting power, as of Dec. 31. This sale is part of a pre-arranged stock trading plan the company approved in November that allowed Schmidt to begin selling his stock this month.

"Using this trading plan, Eric can diversify his investment portfolio and can spread stock trades out over a period of one year to reduce market impact," said Google in the filing.

Just last week, Google's stock soared to an all-time high on hope that the company was nearing a settlement with European regulators over an antitrust probe. Turns out the European Commission says it's still reviewing proposals submitted by Google. But the hint of a settlement was enough for investors to jump in.

Related: 5 reasons why Google has its mojo back

Google's stock has been on a tear over the past six months as the company continues to activate a million Android devices a day, has successfully expanded into the broadband, cable and wireless arenas, and remains the dominant search engine.

Despite more competition from Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) and Facebook (FB), neither has yet threatened Google's top spot.

Shares of Google edged lower in after-hours trading.

-- CNNMoney's David Goldman contributed

First Published: February 8, 2013: 7:37 PM ET

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Who called it Nemo anyway?

Snow plows sit in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Vauxhall, N.J., preparing for what has been dubbed Winter Storm Nemo by The Weather Channel.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Last year, The Weather Channel decided it would start naming winter storms.

Thus, Nemo.

The idea was to draw more attention to storms and get people to prepare, according to Bryan Norcross, senior executive director of weather content for the company.

Since this storm is hitting heavily populated areas, the Nemo name is getting much greater attention than the 13 smaller winter storms that came before it this year. Anyone remember winter storm Brutus?

A spokeswoman for the National Weather Service, which names tropical storms like hurricanes, said the agency has no position on the Weather Channel's decision to name winter storms.

Related: Winter storm brings back gas lines

In case you're curious, the name Nemo, like most of the other names in the 26 picked for this year, is meant to harken back to Greek or Roman mythology, not the Pixar-Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) movie "Finding Nemo." And no, the network does not intend to sell the storm naming rights to the highest bidders.

The Weather Channel is owned by a consortium that includes Comcast (CMCSA)-unit NBC Universal, Blackstone Group (BX) and Bain Capital.

First Published: February 8, 2013: 3:39 PM ET

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Obama to propose pay hike for federal workers

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The White House's Office of Management and Budget officials briefed federal labor leaders late Friday on the proposed pay hike.

Federal pay has been frozen for more than two years. A 0.5% pay hike is scheduled to go to civilian federal workers in late March. That pay hike was delayed when President Obama extended the existing pay freeze a few months to give lawmakers time to come up with a budget deal.

Union leaders were elated to hear the news.

Related: White House details pending budget cuts

"After all that federal workers have sacrificed the past three years, they have earned a raise. I repeat, they have earned a raise," said William R. Dougan, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees.

Congress would still have to approve the pay hike. In the meantime, House Republicans have plans to consider legislation that would extend the current freeze on federal pay through the end of this year.

First Published: February 8, 2013: 6:18 PM ET

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Google's Schmidt selling $2.5 billion in stock

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Schmidt, who was Google's CEO from 2001-2011, will sell up to 3.2 million shares of Google stock, worth about $2.5 billion, according to a filing with the SEC late Friday.

That would leave him with 4.4 million shares, or a 1.3% stake, and 5% voting power. That's a little more than half of what he owned at the end of last year.

Schmidt owned 7.6 million shares, which gave him 8.2% of the voting power, as of Dec. 31. This sale is part of a pre-arranged stock trading plan the company approved in November that allowed Schmidt to begin selling his stock this month.

"Using this trading plan, Eric can diversify his investment portfolio and can spread stock trades out over a period of one year to reduce market impact," said Google in the filing.

Just last week, Google's stock soared to an all-time high on hope that the company was nearing a settlement with European regulators over an antitrust probe. Turns out the European Commission says it's still reviewing proposals submitted by Google. But the hint of a settlement was enough for investors to jump in.

Related: 5 reasons why Google has its mojo back

Google's stock has been on a tear over the past six months as the company continues to activate a million Android devices a day, has successfully expanded into the broadband, cable and wireless arenas, and remains the dominant search engine.

Despite more competition from Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) and Facebook (FB), neither has yet threatened Google's top spot.

Shares of Google edged lower in after-hours trading.

-- CNNMoney's David Goldman contributed

First Published: February 8, 2013: 7:37 PM ET

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IRS nabs identity thieves in nationwide crackdown

Watch out identity thieves: The IRS is ramping up efforts to prevent fraud.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The "massive national sweep" nabbed 389 identity theft suspects in 32 states, and resulted in 734 enforcement actions -- including 109 arrests and 189 indictments, the IRS announced Thursday.

Check cashers are also being investigated. The IRS said it is visiting 197 of these businesses to ensure they're not helping people get away with identity theft or refund fraud.

Related: Prisoners rake in millions from tax fraud

IRS acting commissioner Steven Miller said he hopes these actions will send a message that the agency is serious about identity theft, which is "one of the biggest challenges facing the IRS today."

"As tax season begins this year, we want to be clear that there is a heavy price to pay for perpetrators of refund fraud and identity theft," said Miller. "This is part of a much wider effort underway for the 2013 tax season to stop fraud."

Related: Victim of identity theft? Expect a long wait for your tax refund

Last year, the IRS stopped $20 billion in fraudulent refunds from being issued -- up from $14 billion in the previous year. The agency also had more than 3,000 employees dedicated to prevent and investigate identity theft-related crimes by late 2012 -- more than double the staffing from 2011.

Meanwhile, 223 identity theft suspects were sentenced to prison in 2012 -- up from 80 in 2011 -- and the average jail time for identity thieves climbed by four months to an average sentence of four years

First Published: February 7, 2013: 3:12 PM ET

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Justin Timberlake to be "creative director" for Bud Light Platinum

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Anheuser-Busch announced Thursday that it had hired the actor and musician to be the "creative director" for its Bud Light Platinum brand.

What exactly does that mean? It's not entirely clear, but the company said in a statement that Timberlake would "provide creative, musical and cultural curation for the brand," and will appear in a Bud Light Platinum commercial set to air on Sunday during the Grammy Awards.

Related: Small craft breweries hit it big

"Justin Timberlake is one of the greatest creative minds in the entertainment industry, and his insights will help us further define Bud Light Platinum's identity in the lifestyle space," Anheuser-Busch (BUD) vice president of U.S. marketing Paul Chibe said in a statement. Timberlake said Bud Light Platinum "brings a refined, discerning aesthetic to beer that plays well with what I'm doing."

Timberlake is the latest in a series of musicians to snag "creative director" gigs with big companies. Last week, struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry (BBRY) tapped singer Alicia Keys to be its creative director, a title given to Lady Gaga by Polaroid and to will.i.am by Intel (INTC, Fortune 500).

First Published: February 7, 2013: 5:15 PM ET

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LinkedIn proves it's no Facebook (in a good way)

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Wall Street analysts had high expectations for LinkedIn's (LNKD) fourth quarter, and the company still beat on both counts. LInkedIn netted $40.2 million, or 35 cents per share -- more than three times as much as the $13 million it made a year earlier.

Sales came in at $303.6 million during the past quarter, up 81% over the year.

Shares rose 10% in after-hours trading.

As a business networking site, LinkedIn might not be as sexy as Facebook (FB) and other buzzy startups. But from the start, LinkedIn stood out from the newly public pack. The likes of Yelp (YELP), Pandora (P) and Groupon (GRPN) weren't profitable when they decided to go public, but LinkedIn was earning money and had a solid business model to boot.

The company has touted its multiple-revenue-stream approach, and all three money-making sectors were strong last quarter.

Sales from job-recruitment tools rose 90% over the year, accounting for more than half of the company's overall revenue.

Ads and other marketing revenue increased by more than two-thirds over the year. Advertising represents just a quarter of LinkedIn's revenue -- at Facebook, by contrast, ad sales account for 84% of revenue, and they were up only 41% last quarter.

The final fifth of LinkedIn's sales comes from subscribers who pay for premium accounts.

The company didn't shed much light on mobile, however, a continued pressure point for social networks like Facebook. Facebook shares are finally turning around now that the company is beginning to serve ads to mobile users, and Zynga posted a surprise profit on Tuesday as its mobile userbase expanded.

On a conference call with analysts, CEO Jeff Weiner said about 27% of the site's visitors last quarter came from mobile apps, a 15% jump from a year ago, and about one-third of people looking at job postings came from mobile devices.

One analyst on the call asked about LinkedIn's ongoing testing of mobile ads, and Weiner stressed it's "still early." Because of the limited space on smartphones in particular, the company wants to "be thoughtful" about its mobile ad rollout, Weiner said.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn's overall userbase is growing. The company passed the 200 million member mark during the fourth quarter, representing a nearly 40% increase from the same quarter last year. It's adding about two members per second, and the international market is especially hot: More than 64% of LinkedIn members live outside the United States.

The company also touted its fourth-quarter redesign of LinkedIn profiles, saying that nearly twice as many members updated their pages versus the fourth quarter of 2011. LinkedIn did not provide specific numbers on that point.

LinkedIn expects sales of about $307 million for the first quarter, and about $1.43 billion for the full year. Both figures were in line with the outlook analysts expected.

The social network continues to outperform more traditional job search competitors as well. Monster Worldwide (MWW) Thursday morning reported a $73 million loss last quarter, and the company decided to exit some foreign markets to focus on its U.S. business.

First Published: February 7, 2013: 5:11 PM ET

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Insiders bailing on Dow 14,000

Insider selling has jumped to levels not seen since March 2012. Click chart for more market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Insiders were nine times more likely to sell shares of their companies than buy new ones last week, according to the Vickers Weekly Insider report by Argus Research.

That's the highest level of insider selling since March 2012.

And it comes just as individual investors are starting to return to the stock market.

After yanking more than $150 billion out of U.S. stocks last year, individual investors have been on a buying spree in 2013, with $17 billion flowing back in, according to the latest data from the Investment Company Institute.

Related: What's behind the bull market

With the Dow flirting with 14,000 and just 200 odd points away from a new all-time high, have individual investors missed out on the rally?

Maybe.

"In the past, this level of insider selling has been indicative of a coming downturn or at least a plateau in the market," said David Coleman, insider trading analyst at Argus Research.

The last time the Vickers index hit a level above nine was mid-March of last year. That was just before stocks closed out their best first quarter in more than a decade.

Shortly thereafter, the Dow, which had just topped 13,000, slipped below that mark and largely stayed there until late July, when stocks rallied back with a vengeance on hope for more stimulus from central bankers in Europe and the United States.

In 2011, insiders also rapidly sold out of stocks just a few weeks before S&P downgraded the credit rating of the United States.

Related: Individual investors still nervous about stocks

Insider selling isn't the only technical indicator flashing "sell."

Last week's CFTC Commitment of Traders report showed a big swing from bearish (or neutral) to bullish and that's typically an indicator of a coming plateau, or drop in the market, said Ari Wald, a technical strategist at PrinceRidge.

In the span of two months, the percentage of bullish traders jumped to 55% from 37%.

"It usually means that a lot of bullish bets have already been in place," said Wald. "It doesn't mean the market will fall apart but it looks like time to take a more neutral approach."

CNNMoney's Fear & Greed Index has also seen a big swing. The index has been in extreme greed over the past week, hitting a record high of 94 (the index only goes to 100). It has since backed off a little, but is still in extreme greed. Just a couple of months ago, it was deep into fear, hovering around 27 in mid November.

If Wald's predictions are true, that big swing may be yet another sign that a change is coming.

First Published: February 6, 2013: 1:42 PM ET

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Postal workers worry about job security

The U.S. Postal Service has been a bastion of solid middle class jobs with good benefits. But workers now worry whether they can rely on them.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

"It was one of the most secure jobs that people looked up to," said the Bronx resident who has a route in Manhattan. "You didn't need a college degree, you could get a job paying a good amount of money, plus benefits that you need to raise a family,"

Dyer's job supports a family of five, and has helped pay for his oldest daughter's college tuition. Despite almost two decades of seniority under his belt, Wednesday's announcement that Saturday service is being eliminated has made Dyer fearful. He worries that the job won't last long enough to get him to retirement as he has always assumed.

"Once they do this, they can make any change they want," he said. "I don't know what it's going to turn into. Is it going to cut from five days down to four days or three days? I need another 20, 25 years to get to retirement. I don't know if it will be there that long."

Dyer's union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, vows to fight the plan, arguing the Postal Service doesn't have the authority to eliminate a day of service without Congressional approval. But the Postal Service says it has authority to go ahead with the plan, and members of Congress haven't yet said they will pursue any action to stop the agency.

Related: Postal Service to end Saturday mail service

There could be 22,500 jobs eliminated nationwide under the plan that the Postal Service says would save it $2 billion annually. The Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said he will not lay off any workers and accomplish the cuts by cutting overtime and part-time hours and offering buy outs to current employees.

But, Dyer is nervous.

"They're eliminating one job for every five routes," he said. "In a perfect world, people who want to leave will be the ones to leave. But we don't live in a perfect world."

First class mail, the most profitable product for the postal service, has fallen by a third since the peak in 2001 amid the rise of email and electronic banking. But the key culprit for the Postal Service's financial woes has been a 2006 congressional mandate, under which it has to pre-fund healthcare benefits for future retirees. The USPS has been borrowing billions of dollars from taxpayers to make up for the shortfalls.

Opinion: Save the Postal Service from collapse

James Hunter, 48, a carrier in Bethany, Mo., said Congress has "handcuffed" the Postal Service with its pre-funding requirement. Hunter believes that the agency should be allowed to expand the services it offers customers.

As a part-time carrier, Hunter works 20 to 28 hours a week and has a 29-mile commute to his job. With Saturday delivery gone and full-time workers absorbing more hours on weekdays, Hunter said he and others in his position may be forced to reevaluate their options.

"There's going to be a lot of carriers that quit, and I think that's what they want," he said. "If a person gets cuts down to 10 hours a week or 13 hours a week, and you're trying to drive 29 miles one way with $4-a-gallon gas, you just can't do it."

Postal Service workers reached a peak of 909,000 in early 1999, according to the Labor Department. The latest reading from January shows 601,300 workers.

By comparison, just the number of jobs lost -- 300,000 jobs -- is almost as many as the total number of U.S. employees at rival package delivery company United Parcel Service (UPS, Fortune 500), and twice the number of workers at the overnight delivery service of FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500).

The Postal Service has been a bastion of solid middle class jobs with good benefits. According to government data, the average annual pay of the 315,000 letter carriers at the postal service is $51,390. The second most common job, the 140,000 mail sorters, get paid an average of $48,380.

CNNMoney's James O'Toole contributed reporting.

First Published: February 6, 2013: 2:15 PM ET

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George Lucas preps for sale of $2 billion Disney stake

Lucas owns roughly 2% of Disney currently.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Lucas' trust registered his 37.1 million Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) shares for possible sale. The Star Wars creator received the shares, worth $2.02 billion at Wednesday's closing price, as part of Disney's $4 billion acquisition last year of his production company, Lucasfilm.

The move doesn't obligate Lucas to sell his shares immediately, though he said following the Disney acquisition last year that he planned to donate "the majority" of his wealth to education-focused charities.

"For 41 years, the majority of my time and money has been put into the company," Lucas said. "As I start a new chapter in my life, it is gratifying that I have the opportunity to devote more time and resources to philanthropy."

Lucasfilm did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Disney plans to release a new trilogy of Star Wars films starting in 2015, and CEO Bob Iger said this week that the company is also planning several separate spinoff films based on individual characters.

First Published: February 6, 2013: 7:12 PM ET

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