What’s in a Vote? The Short- and Long-Run Impact of Dual-Class Equity on IPO Firm Values
By Scott Smart, Ramabhadran Thirumalai, Chad Zutter
Journal of Accounting and Economics | March 2008
Journal of Accounting and Economics | March 2008
Citation
Smart, Scott., Thirumalai, Ramabhadran., Zutter, Chad. What’s in a Vote? The Short- and Long-Run Impact of Dual-Class Equity on IPO Firm Values Journal of Accounting and Economics www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165410107000584?via%3Dihub.
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Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2008
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Abstract
We find that relative to fundamentals, dual-class firms trade at lower prices than do single-class firms, both at the IPO and for at least the subsequent 5 years. The lower prices attached to duals do not foreshadow abnormally low stock or accounting returns. Moreover, some types of CEO turnover are less frequent among duals, and in general CEO turnover is sensitive to firm performance for singles but not for duals. Finally, when duals unify their share classes, statistically and economically significant value gains occur. Collectively, our results suggest that the governance associated with dual-class equity influences the pricing of duals.
Ramabhadran S. Thirumalai is an Associate Professor of Finance (Practice) at the Indian School of Business (ISB). He is currently working on the impact of various regulatory changes on securities market pricing, efficiency, and liquidity. His research interests also include the trading behaviour of various types of market participants, with a particular focus on proprietary trading.
He teaches courses on Derivatives and Security Markets in the PGP programme, as well as, introductory finance courses in several programmes at ISB.

Ramabhadran Thirumalai