IPOs in 2016 Increasingly Include Dual-Class Shareholder Voting Rights

Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report recently published “BNA Insights: IPOs in 2016 Increasingly Include Dual-Class Shareholder Voting Rights” authored by Olshan Corporate Partner Spencer Feldman. The article extensively discusses dual-class share structures of public companies with class A ‘subordinate voting shares’ and class B ‘multiple voting shares.’ After the success of companies like Google, Facebook, Alibaba, Shake Shack, Fitbit and, most recently, Twilio, a significant percentage of media and technology companies are now adopting these structures before they go public. The article also covers the terms of these charter provisions, the SEC and state law considerations and the pros and cons of dual-class share structures.