Larry and Sergey to give up voting control in Google

larry-page-sergey-brinGoogle revealed a plan today for co-founder Larry Page and Sergey Brin to sell off some of their company stock, with the end result that the pair’s voting power will drop below 50 percent.

The news was revealed in a regulatory filing disclosing a plan that Page and Brin made last November to sell off about 5 million shares each. It’s described “as part of their respective long-term strategies for individual asset diversification and liquidity.” The sale, which will take place over five years, will decrease their voting power from 59 percent to 48 percent.

So Page and Brin are still going to carry a lot of weight, to say the least, but for the first time it will be possible for the other shareholders to band together and outvote them.

Next Story:
Previous Story:

Photo of Anthony Ha

About the Author,

Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • http://brophyworld.com/apple-facebook-dictators/ Why Apple and Facebook are Governed by Dictators | Brophy World

    [...] Google is similarly governed, as VentureBeat reported in 2010: Google revealed a plan today for co-founder Larry Page and Sergey Brin to sell off some of their company stock, with the end result that the pair’s voting power will drop below 50 percent. [...]

blog comments powered by Disqus