The Investor Responsibility Research Center estimates that just 12 percent of companies have dual class stock with
unequal voting rights.
Conversely, where different classes of stock had
unequal voting rights, it would be possible for a corporation to be a member of the "qualified group" even though 80 percent of its voting power represents a far smaller share of its total value.
Of these, 79 feature multiclass capital structures with
unequal voting rights and 35 are controlled firms with a single class of voting stock.
Deviation from the standard of "one share, one vote" on its face, viewed with suspicion (thus the very small number of publicly-traded firms with provisions for
unequal voting rights by equity class).
WASHINGTON -- Concerned about the number of public multi-class stock companies and the resulting potential for harm to shareowners, the Council of Institutional Investors today urged the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq to make new companies that have two or more classes of common stock with
unequal voting rights ineligible for listing.
The Investment Company Act of 1940 has a policy to prevent investment companies like RHR from issuing stock that has
unequal voting rights or contains inequitable or discriminatory provisions.
For years, Stein and Landry were shielded by an unusual system of
unequal voting rights that entrenched them and protected their salaries and bonuses.
The ICGN chairman reiterated the governance group's strong opposition to
unequal voting rights for certain classes or groups of shareholders, emphasizing that differences among various EU member states on this issue helped derail a previous effort to create uniform takeover procedures.
A dual class stock structure, which carries
unequal voting rights, is antithetical to the fair and fundamental principle of a `one-share, one-vote' system and has no place in today's marketplace.
