Google Inc.'s latest bid to preserve the control of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin is raising concerns among corporate-governance watchdogs, who say the new stock structure cuts shareholders out of the loop.

Google unveiled a plan yesterday that lets the company issue new shares without diluting the founders' voting power. 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.

Page and Brin, who made no secret of their intention to hold sway over the company when it went public in 2004, aim to keep that control as Google grows larger. The latest move lets the founders issue stock to compensate workers or make acquisitions without loosening their grip. For investors, the result is a lack of input on decision making, said Charles Elson, director of the University of Delaware's John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance.