Dual-class shares are a corporate equity structure in which a company issues two (or more) classes of shares with different voting rights attached — typically a Class A share available to public investors carrying standard voting rights (such as one vote per share) and a Class B (or super voting) share held by founders, promoters, or insiders carrying significantly enhanced voting rights (such as 10 or 20 votes per share). This structure allows founders to raise public capital while retaining effective voting control over strategic decisions, insulating the company from hostile takeovers and activist investor pressure. Prominent global examples include Alphabet (Google), Meta, and Berkshire Hathaway. In India, SEBI introduced a framework for differential voting rights (DVR) shares in 2019 for technology and knowledge-intensive companies meeting certain criteria, enabling a limited form of dual-class structure for domestic listings. For investors on Ventura Securities, dual-class share structures are a critical corporate governance consideration — they can entrench founders and limit minority shareholder influence, making it essential to evaluate whether the business's operational performance and founder stewardship justify the governance trade-off.
