
The Myth of Dual Class Shares: Lessons from Asia
Companies with dual class shares have, as the term suggests, two (or more) classes of common stock. One class gives its holders voting power proportionate to their equity shareholdings. The other offers a group of shareholders, normally corporate insiders, weighted voting rights, which allow the insiders to retain control with less than majority ownership of the company.
The recent wave of high-profile technology giants, from Google to Facebook, that have gone public with dual class shares in the U.S. has led to the revival of the use of such share structures. Dual class shares have also gained traction among policymakers … Read more