When original owners sell stock in companies, they find ways to get the money, but still control the company. One of the ways to do this is to issue a different share of stock with little or no voting rights, but rights to dividends and growth.
One such company is Ford Motor Company. Although the Ford family’s ownership stake in the automaker had declined to less than 2% of the company’s equity as of 2010, the family retained operational control through a special class of stock that was established early in the company’s history and retained when the company made its initial public offering in 1956.
The family owns all of the company’s Class B shares, which are collectively entitled to elect 40% of the company’s board of directors, with the remaining 60% elected by the holders of the company’s publicly traded common stock.
This has worked out well for the Ford family. Even today there are at least three family members on the Board of Directors.
Before investing, make sure that you know what you will own and how the stock works before you purchase it.