Google’s Stock Settlement To Perpetuate Co-Founders’ Control

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s recent stock settlement will perpetuate the co-founders’ control and won’t help much for shareholders’ causes.

Steven M. Davidoff of Dealbook terms the settlement an "odd-one" and stretches the laws of corporate finance.

Genesis Of The Case

While going public in 2004, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) had a dual-class structure. Google’s co-founders Mr. Brin and Mr. Page were issued Class B shares with 10 votes apiece, while public shareholders received Class A shares with only one vote. The idea of dual-class structure was to...