Critics advocate eliminating dual class shares. We find that founding families control 89% of dual class firms, potentially confounding economic inferences regarding these structures. Using industry, market and Fama-French excess returns, we find a buy-and-hold strategy of dual class family...

Conventional wisdom suggests that family shareholders should exit their large, concentrated equity stakes in publicly traded firms and seek benefits arising from diversification. However, founding families maintain a substantive and undiversified stake in many publicly traded U.S. firms. The...

Conventional wisdom suggests that family shareholders should exit their large, concentrated equity stakes in publicly traded firms and seek benefits arising from diversification. However, founding families maintain a substantive and undiversified stake in many publicly traded U.S. firms. The...