Facebook Has No Imminent IPO Plans

PALO ALTO, Calif. (TheStreet) -- Facebook, the world's most popular social networking site, has set up a dual-class stock structure emulating Google's(GOOG Quote) strategy in perhaps a sign that it is preparing for an initial public offering.

Facebook, however, said an IPO wasn't imminent.

"We did introduce a dual-class stock structure because existing shareholders wanted to maintain control over voting on certain issues, to help ensure the company can continue to focus on the long term to build a great business," said Larry Yu, a Facebook spokesman, told Reuters. "Facebook has no plans to go public at this time."

Facebook has converted all shares held by existing shareholders, common stock options and restricted stock units to Class B stock, which carry 10 times the voting power of Class A stock, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing a person who has seen documents outlining the plan.

The use of a dual-class of shares helps protect the voting control of a narrow group of investors, in this case Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Google adopted this practice in 2004 before it went public when Class B shares were issued to co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Zuckerberg said in May that an IPO was "a few years out," Reuters reports.

Dual-class shares also have been adopted by media houses such as New York Times(NYT Quote), Comcast(CMCSA Quote) and Hollinger, the Financial Times reports.