The results of a class action lawsuit against Facebook (NASDAQ:$FB) determine that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook insiders will not be compelled to take the witness stand in the controversial ‘private shares’ Facebook trial.
The lawsuit was originally filed in April of 2016 in response to Zuckerberg’s plan to reclassify Facebook’s stock structure to include proposed Class-C shares that would carry no voting rights. The move is speculated to be an effort by Zuckerberg to remain in majority control of the company despite selling off many of his holdings to fund his personal philanthropic efforts.
Despite the news, the terms of the settlement have not yet been disclosed, leaving the future of the Class-C non-voting shares unknown.
During the discovery process last December, Zuckerberg faced criticism when text messages between the CEO and board member Marc Andreessen were believed by the plaintiffs as evidence that Zuckerberg was coached by Andreessen during the special committee negotiation process to win board approval for the changes to the stock.
The discovery also revealed that Zuckerberg had seriously considered holding some sort of public office and that he was making efforts to add a clause that would allow him to serve indefinitely in public office without losing control of the popular social networking company.
The decision to settle follows a similar 2013 lawsuit against Google (NASDAQ:$GOOGL) co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who also wished to create non-voting shares to maintain majority voting rights.
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