Dual class shares is the issuing of shares with different voting rights. Normally, a share only has one voting right. In the dual-class share structure, however, the company issues two different types of shares with one type having more than one voting right per share. In some cases, the dual-class share structure means that one share owns significantly more voting rights than other shares issued at the same time from the same company. The dual-class share structure is often used by technology companies or family-owned companies to retain majority control over the company, even though they only hold a (small) proportion of the outstanding shares. However, this small share includes then all the multiple-voting shares, which own several voting rights per share, whereas the rest of the outstanding shares have only one voting right or even no voting right at all and is held by the private investors. This is then often marked by A (multiple voting rights) and B (one or no voting right).
Dual-class shares are primarily used to bundle voting rights to a few individual persons in order to retain full control of the company. The structure allows companies to access public capital without sacrificing control.