Google has settled a shareholder lawsuit alleging that the company's plan to create a nonvoting class of stock would unfairly entrench the company's co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, on the company's board. The stockholders and Google agreed that the company would enact certain corporate governance provisions in exchange for dropping the lawsuit, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
The Mountain View, Calif., search-engine operator was said to have reached the settlement with shareholders, including the Brockton Contributory Retirement System, a Massachusetts pension fund, very late Saturday night. Both parties had been scheduled to argue their positions in the case, captioned In re Google Class C Shareholder Litigation, on Monday in the Delaware Court of Chancery. The Chancery Court trial was scheduled to run through June 25. Google's Class A common shares carry one vote, while Class B shares are equal to 10 votes, according to court documents. Page and Brin, in total, hold more than 56 percent of Google's voting rights and 15 percent of the company's outstanding equity, the pension fund alleged in its complaint.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
