The founders of search and news company Yahoo Inc. are planning to sell up to five million shares over the next 15 months, according to a regulatory filing made late Thursday.

Jerry Yang transferred three million shares this month in the Sunnyvale, Calif., company he co-founded into a blind trust managed by a third-party trustee.

The trustee will determine when and to what extent the shares will be sold or disposed, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The trust will terminate by the end of the year.

Co-founder David Filo set up a plan to sell up to two million shares of Yahoo over a 12-month period starting in May. His stock will be sold according to a prearranged schedule at market prices.

Yahoo said Yang and Filo made their plans in compliance with Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The rule lets executives set up plans to sell shares at specified future dates to avoid charges of insider trading should they want to sell stock at time when they might possess meaningful insider information.