From Corporate Intelligence:
For founders, maintaining control of a big public company can be an
ongoing struggle, even when its entire shareholder structure was
designed to keep you in charge. Just ask the Google guys.
Back in April 2012, Google proposed a 2-for-1 stock split,
a plan that would double the number of outstanding shares in the
company and halve its stock price, while allowing its founders Larry
Page and Sergey Brin to maintain tight control over the direction of the
business.
Google stock was trading at about $650 at the time, just as the
company announced a 61% jump in first-quarter profit. Now, almost two
years and a settled shareholder lawsuit later – and with Google stock trading at $1,133 — there is a timeline for when the stock split will take effect.
In short: on April 2, all Google’s shareholders will get one new
Class C share for every Class A or B share they already own. In a
statement today, index manager S&P Dow Jones Indices said it expects
that “over time, the Class C shares will become the primary equity
trading line for Google.”....MORE
