Insiders

Facebook investors OK new share class to keep Zuckerberg at helm

June 20, 2016 at 04:56 pm EDT

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc shareholders approved a proposal to create a new class of non-voting shares, a move aimed at letting Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg give away his wealth without relinquishing control of the social media company he founded.

The company's plan to issue two "Class C" shares for each Class A and Class B share held by shareholders, in what is effectively a 3-for-1 stock split, was approved by Facebook shareholders at the company's annual general meeting on Monday.

The Class C shares will be publicly traded under a new symbol.

Zuckerberg said in December that he intended to put 99 percent of his Facebook shares into a new philanthropy project focusing on human potential and equality.

The creation of the Class C shares would allow Zuckerberg to sell the non-voting stock, but keep the voting Class A and Class B shares that would let him retain control of Facebook.

Zuckerberg plans on running Facebook "for a very long time", the 32 year-old CEO told shareholders at a Q&A session at the AGM.

Shareholders also approved the continued tenure of all the eight board members, including billionaire investor Peter Thiel, who were up for re-election.

Facebook announced the plan to create the new class of non-voting shares on April 27. The approval of the plan was virtually certain since Zuckerberg controls the company.

(Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

Mark Zuckerberg

Youngest billionaire in the world with 4 billion dollars in 2010, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of the social networking site Facebook, was the 52nd richest men in the world in 2011 (according to Forbes). His personal fortune was estimated at $ 13.5 billion in 2011.

Graduated in 2003 from Phillips Exeter Academy, Mark Zuckerberg joined Harvard. Keen on informatics and gifted in programming, he created his first network aimed to rate the sex appeal of his friends by hacking photos on the servers of Harvard. The user has two portraits of girls and he has to vote for the sexiest girl. Success is dazzling: 22 000 connections in two hours.

In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg officially launched Facebook, a social network designed primarily for students of Harvard and other universities, the success was immediate. Little by little, Mark adds functionalities which allow to find people, communicate with them and to see friend in common.

In 2006, Facebook is opened to the public. The popularity of the social network growas each day and overtakes My Space.

Mark Zuckerberg used advertising based on behaviors of network users. Advertisers could easily target customers interested in their offers. But Mark Zuckerberg has to update constantly his securities policy. In 2010, 500 million people had a Facebook account.

In 2007, Microsoft spent $ 280 million to hold 1.7 % of the fastest growing social network. The Chinese billionaire spent $ 120 million to hold approximately 0.8% of Facebook.

In 2010, Facebook counted 500 million members and had a turnover of $ 500 million in 2009. It is the 5th most visited website in the world. In 2011, Mark Zuckerberg leaded the way of the most powerful figure according to Medias ahead Rupert Murdoch, Larry Page and Steve Jobs (The Guardian).

Mark Zuckerberg has been in trial twice, the first one against the Winklevoss twins who accused him of intellectual property offense, the second one against Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of The Facebook ( the first version of Facebook), who was his roommate at Harvard but also his best friend.

View full profile

Linked companies
META PLATFORMS, INC.	Chief Executive Officer
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC Investment Trusts/Mutual FundsMiscellaneous Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC (CZI) is a private foundation headquartered in Redwood City, California. The firm was founded was co-founded by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg in 2015 to help solve some of society’s toughest challenges — from eradicating disease and improving education, to addressing the needs of their local communities. CZI is composed of four funding entities: the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, LLC (the main operational funding vehicle); the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation (a 501(c)(3) private foundation); the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Advocacy, (a 501(c)(4) organization). In addition to traditional grantmaking to support people and organizations working toward their missions in Science, Education, and within their communities, CZI makes venture investments in impact-focused companies, builds tools and products that they can scale and give away for free, and supports capacity building to achieve progress across their work.	Chief Executive Officer

Linked companies

META PLATFORMS, INC.

Chief Executive Officer