Google settlement clears way for new Class C stock
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Google Inc has settled a shareholder class action lawsuit that clears the way for the company to issue a new class of nonvoting stock, giving the company a currency for acquisitions that would not dilute the founders' control.
The online search engine leader had planned to issue Class C shares as a dividend to investors. A shareholder, the Brockton Retirement Board, sued and claimed the plan gave the founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, added control without paying for it.
Legal experts said the case would be closely watched in Silicon Valley, where high-tech companies such as Facebook Inc have adopted dual-class share structures, which allow a founder to retain control after taking a company public.
The settlement, which still needs court approval, ends the lawsuit that had been scheduled to go to trial on Tuesday in the Court of Chancery in Delaware, where Google is incorporated. The founders of Google would have had to testify.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/google-settles-class-action-lawsuit-over-class-c-151948853.html
The Google corporation has found a way to ignore the wishes of stockholders.
What could go wrong?
I wonder if their deal with the NSA had anything to do with it?
