Google Proposes Changing Stock Structure to Keep Control

Google Inc., the world’s largest Internet-search company, plans a new stock structure that gives management more leeway in issuing shares, while letting it keep control over the direction of the business.

The stock change would create a new class of nonvoting shares that will be distributed to existing shareholders in what is effectively a 2-for-1 stock split. Google announced the move as part of its first-quarter financial results, which met or beat most analysts’ estimates, boosted by online-ad spending.