Dual Class Stock
See: Super-Voting Stock. See: Dual-Class Ownership.
The notion of a share of stock being financially equal, but having different control elements, is a common one in many very large corporations even today, as the original founding families believed, rightly or wrongly, that they had some epic and mythical mission to fulfill, and wanted to be sure that their own family controlled the company, more or less. Or at least had a voice in its operations, such that it would never become the love slave of an unwanted master.
Think: Comcast, The New York Times, Isis.com, etc.
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Finance: What is non-voting stock?4 Views
finance a la shmoop- what is non-voting stock? hmm well it's stock that doesn't
vote. bet you're shocked to hear that. most people need a PhD in finance to [stock wears an "I didn't vote" sticker.
understand that notion. but really that's it in most cases common stock carries
with it the right to vote. and in fact it's the common shareholders who elect
the board of directors. but every now and then a potentially hostile investor
comes along and buys or wants to buy a big chunk of stock in a company. well the
amount might be a block large enough to elect that potentially hostile investor
slate or the group of people that investor wants to place on the board to
represent her evil intentions .when that happens companies will often create a
class of common stock similar in every way to its normal common only with its [stock checklist of privileges listed]
voting rights stripped away .that way the investor can own an economic interest in
the company but not monkey with the board.