The seal for Bucks County. (Credit: LevittownNow.com)
The Bucks County Retirement Board has voted to agree to a settlement with Alphabet, Google’s parent company, that will result in an overhaul of the tech giant’s corporate structure.
The settlement still needs to be agreed to by all parties and come before a California court.
The settlement came as the county is a shareholder in Alphabet through its retirement fund, said Daniel Grieser, an attorney for the county’s law department.
“We announced, we approved a settlement with Alphabet, which is the parent company of Google,” said Harvie during the meeting. “The settlement we secured is going to result in them enacting a $500 million overhaul of their corporate structure.”
Bucks County, on behalf of the Bucks County Employees’ Retirement Fund, joined with Police and Fire Department System of the City of Detroit to file claims against the multi-billion dollar company for allegations on mismanagement.
Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, who is a member of the retirement board, described the settlement is one of “most significant overhaul of any public company that he, in his 25 years, knew anything about.”
The county will receive $50,000 as part of the settlement, but the changes are expected to benefit all shareholders of the company, as noted by Bucks County Controller Pam Van Blunk.
Harvie emphasized the historic nature of the settlement, noting that the attorney who worked with the county called it “the
The commissioners believe this settlement will set a precedent for other communities pursuing similar actions against Google for monopolistic practices.
“That’s something that we believe will be trend setting for other communities that are going after Google for their issues when it comes to monopolistic practices,” Harvie said.
The commissioner expressed pride in leading this effort, noting it was accomplished in a “unanimously bipartisan fashion.”
Alphabet did not respond for comment.
Editor’s Note: LevittownNow.com is part of the Google News Initiative and has received funding, mentoring, and training through the company’s program. LevittownNow.com, like many publishers, is also part of Google’s ad network.
