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I just don't get the whole non-voting shares thing for established, profitable companies like Google. AFAIK, the idea behind non-voting shares is to be able to

I just don't get the whole non-voting shares thing for established, profitable companies like Google. AFAIK, the idea behind non-voting shares is to be able to continue to raise money by selling stock. Selling non-voting shares allows the founders to maintain control. For an established, profitable company like Google that does not need to raise additional funds, why even bother with non-voting shares? Is the purpose just for compensation in the form of stock grants / options? Why not just increase salary or bonuses, and get rid of stock grants? At least at my level, I never thought anything I did could have a dramatic impact on the stock value, so holding stock did not provide motivation (and most of us were on auto-sell anyway). Is it just to provide executive level motivation? Why not just have meaningful performance targets and performance bonuses to motivate execs?

vosper 9y ago
Stock grants let them push part of your compensation for work done today out to next year, or beyond. The money (stock) that's coming in the future keeps you at the company. At least, that's why I thought it was done.
- drewg123 9y ago
  At least at Google, most people viewed it as a part of your compensation. Similar to a raise. It was done every year, and you'd eventually have several overlapping GSUs at once. It was almost more a reward for tenure than anything else. The thing that kept people around was the annual bonus. It was always interesting to see who quit the day after the bonus was paid.
mox1 9y ago
Well when you give out salary or bonuses (or even a dividend) taxes are paid twice (once by company, once by employee/investor). By playing stock tricks (buying back shares, non voting shares) the company never pays taxes, just the employee/investor. That's probably not the whole story, but part of it I think.
- drewg123 9y ago
  I should have thought of this. It all comes down to avoiding taxes.

vosper 9y ago

Stock grants let them push part of your compensation for work done today out to next year, or beyond. The money (stock) that's coming in the future keeps you at the company. At least, that's why I thought it was done.

drewg123 9y ago
At least at Google, most people viewed it as a part of your compensation. Similar to a raise. It was done every year, and you'd eventually have several overlapping GSUs at once. It was almost more a reward for tenure than anything else. The thing that kept people around was the annual bonus. It was always interesting to see who quit the day after the bonus was paid.

mox1 9y ago

Well when you give out salary or bonuses (or even a dividend) taxes are paid twice (once by company, once by employee/investor). By playing stock tricks (buying back shares, non voting shares) the company never pays taxes, just the employee/investor. That's probably not the whole story, but part of it I think.

drewg123 9y ago
I should have thought of this. It all comes down to avoiding taxes.