Since Google (now Alphabet) issued dual-class stock at its IPO in 2004, the subject has been vigorously debated throughout the world.  Unlike firms whose shares all have equal voting rights (“one-share, one-vote firms”), companies with dual-class stock allow a founder to attach enhanced voting rights to the shares that he or she holds, while issuing shares with inferior voting rights to public stockholders.  All classes of such stock possess equal rights to share in the cash-flow of the corporation, thereby creating a divergence in voting and cash-flow rights in the capital structure of the company.  Dual-class stock therefore enables a … Read more