New stock split gives Brin, Page life-long hold on Google

Google yesterday unveiled a new stock split, offering current shareholders two non-voting shares for every share they own, effectively giving Larry Page and Sergey Brin life-long control of the company they founded in 1998.

Under the offer that has rankled corporate-governance watchdogs, the internet search engine giant is offering each holder of a share of Class A or Class B common stock one share of the new non-voting Class C capital stock.

A stockholder who currently owns one Class A share with a single vote will continue to own that share plus one Class C share without a vote.

The Class A shares will continue to trade under the ''GOOG'' ticker symbol, while the Class C shares will trade under a new ticker symbol, so that stockholders will be able to trade these shares, just as they can with Class A shares.

Except for voting rights, the Class C shares will have the same rights as the existing Class A and Class B shares.

The new stock split will give Page and Brin, who hold a combined 58 per cent of the voting rights stock under a special class of shares, life-long control of the company and thwart a hostile takeover or a shareholder from having any say in the running of the company.