Google to split stock to preserve control

Google Inc. reported a 61 percent increase in its net income for the first three months of the year and announced plans to split its stock 2-for-1 to preserve its leadership's control over the company in the long term.

The online search leader said Thursday that it wants to issue a new class of stock to shareholders, but the new shares won't have any voting power. Under the plan, all current stockholders would get one share of the new Class C stock for each share they now own. This effectively splits Google's stock price in half.

Google said the split is something investors have been asking for. In addition, employees given Google stock in the future will get the non-voting stock, allowing voting power to remain with existing shareholders. The same will hold true for stock-based acquisitions that Google makes.