Facebook nixes plan to create new class of stock

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getty_050317_zuckerberg

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(MENLO PARK, Calif.) — Facebook is dropping a plan to create a class of non-voting stock.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the plan was intended to allow him to fund his philanthropic efforts by selling stock while still continuing to control the company. But he said Facebook has been doing well enough that he can abandon the plan.

“Over the past year and a half, Facebook’s business has performed well and the value of our stock has grown to the point that I can fully fund our philanthropy and retain voting control of Facebook for 20 years or more,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.

This comes days before Zuckerberg was expected to testify in court after shareholders sued the company because of the proposed plan.

Within the next 18 months, Zuckerberg said, he would sell between 35 million and 75 million Facebook shares — between $6 billion and $13 billion — to fund the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

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