But, as the WSJ, which first reported the development notes, the change in stock structure will likely ensure that Zuckerberg can maintain voting control when the company does go public. The paper also notes that Google (NSDQ: GOOG) created a second class of stock before its own IPO five years ago.

Zuckerberg said in June that an IPO was not on the “immediate horizon.” However, Facebook has made it clear that it is setting its sights on an eventual public offering. For instance, when the company said it was searching for a new CFO this spring, it explicitly said it was looking for an executive with public-company experience and eventually chose the former CFO of publicly traded biotech giant Genentech.