Facebook executives accused of disloyalty by investors in lawsuit

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and another executive from the social network have been accused by a group of shareholders in the company of co-operating against minority investors.

Zuckerberg and Marc Andreesen are being sued by the group along with investment bank Morgan Stanley and legal firm Wachtell Lipton, with the issue surrounding the introduction of a third class of shares which will allow Zuckerberg to keep control of Facebook while selling some of his stake to fund charities.

The Delaware Court of Chancery heard on Thursday that text conversations between Zuckerberg and Andreesen showed "disloyalty" on the executives' part towards the ordinary shareholders of the company.

According to the suit filed by the shareholders, the addition of the class of shares is a "self-interested agglomeration of power".

A spokesperson for Facebook said that the committee set up internally to deal with the reclassification did its job properly.

The statement said that it was "confident that the special committee engaged in a thorough and fair process to negotiate a proposal in the best interests of Facebook and its shareholders."

The shareholders argue that the committee did not carry out a thorough investigation into the decision, by not accurately representing the wishes of class A investors, who normally have the least voting rights.

The cryptic messages sent between the two men revealed to the court appear to show Zuckerberg and Andreesen discussing the shareholder issue, with the latter using the phrase "Mission Accomplished" when the committee ratified the decision.