Re:No longer loving Google
by Aloisius on Monday January 30, 2012 @08:09PM
(#3531316)
Don't Sergey and Brin have 10x voting rights? I was under the impression that common shareholders couldn't do a darn thing to them.
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The problem is its not just who has the most votes, but in the US, companies have a legal obligation to do what is in the best interest of the shareholders (even minority shareholders) over all other claimants.
California just created a new corporation type that allows 'public benefit' to take precedence over shareholder interest:
Re:No longer loving Google
by magicalist on Tuesday January 31, 2012 @05:56AM
(#3532728)
no they do not. not only is this not established in law (in fact, congress has made it harder for civil suits to be filed), they are almost never brought unless there has been a large drop in stock price (not for tepid or slower-than-desired growth), the ones that are brought are usually dismissed, and the ones that are not dismissed are almost universally settled.
take a look at, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_judgment_rule
Perhaps, but it's still such a widely held belief among businesspeople and shareholders that it's probably not a battle that would be wise to pick (very often).
Re:No longer loving Google
by icebraining on Monday January 30, 2012 @09:27PM
(#3531534)
Yes, assuming things haven't changed since 2007:
In particular, as of December 31, 2007, our two founders and our CEO, Larry, Sergey and Eric, owned approximately 88% of our outstanding Class B common stock, representing approximately 67% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock.
https://investor.google.com/documents/2007_Google_AnnualRepo...