Voting and non-voting shares
Voting and non-voting shares are classes of a company's shares that carry the same or similar economic rights but differ in whether the holder can vote on company decisions.
Most people think of a share as one thing: a slice of the company’s value and a vote. Some companies split those two rights. Voting shares carry the right to vote at shareholder meetings, for example on electing directors or approving major transactions. Non-voting shares carry an economic interest, such as a share in dividends or sale proceeds, without that vote. The exact rights of each class depend on the company’s governing documents and the law where it is organised.
Families use different share classes mainly to separate control from ownership. A common aim is to keep decisions with the people who run the business while still giving every child a fair economic share. A parent might, for example, plan for the successor to hold voting control and for siblings who work elsewhere to hold non-voting shares. Share classes can also be part of how ownership is moved into a trust or passed down gradually.
A common confusion
Holding voting shares is not the same as having authority in the company. Votes decide who sits on the board and how major decisions are approved. They do not decide whether the senior team follows the successor in a meeting. The two are prepared separately, and a family can get the share structure right while the leadership handover still goes badly.
Why it matters
Splitting control and value is a question of fair versus equal, and it can feel very different to each child. The articles on choosing between two children as successor and siblings and the successor look at the family side of that decision.
This is a general definition only. Share classes have legal and tax consequences, and the family should involve its lawyer and accountant before creating or changing them.