English: Left to right, Eric E. Schmidt, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google Polski: Od lewej do prawej: Eric E. Schmidt, Sergey Brin i Larry Page z firmy Google (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
After requesting the right to split its stock, Google waited two years until today to officially make the split. A new Class C stock is being introduced that will have no voting rights, according to the company. The Class C stocks will take on the GOOG ticker symbol while the original Class A stocks will now trade as GOOGL. Each owner of a Class A stock was given one Class C share today.
Class B shares which have 10 times the voting power were given to the two founders and the current Executive Chair Eric Schmidt. This structure allows the three to maintain control of the direction of the company in the future. A lawsuit was filed to block this new structure by current shareholders. The company was able to settle the lawsuit by agreeing to a payout of $7.5 billion if the two traded classes of stock diverge in price over time. They also agreed to allow more oversight of acquisitions that use stock. Fortune magazine, a liberal business publication, called the stock split structure ‘Evil’. A reference to the companies long held motto that it ‘Does No Evil’.
The price of a share had reached $1200 but now trades near $570 a share after the split. Big investors are already planning to sell their new Class C shares on the market and purchase more Class A shares before the price does diverge. Thus continuing to have the same voting rights as before the split.
What Is the Deal With Google's Stock Split?