Good News for Investors: Facebook Drops Shareholder-Unfriendly Stock-Split Plan

It's official: Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) has decided to drop its controversial plan to split its stock. A controversial move from last year had been designed to allow Mark Zuckerberg to retain control over the company, even as he plans to give away 99% of his Facebook holdings throughout his lifetime for philanthropic purposes through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

The original plan was to change the company's capital structure by establishing a new non-voting "C" share class, with all Class A and Class B shareholders -- public investors and company insiders, respectively -- receiving two Class C shares for every one Class A share held. As Zuckerberg sold supervoting Class B shares over time to fund the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which convert to Class A shares upon a transfer of ownership, he would still be able to retain majority voting power.

Image source: Facebook.

Source: Fool.com