Abstract

Valuation of the nonvoting common stock of a private firm may include a discount for the nonvoting status of those shares relative to the value of the voting shares. To apply a specific discount to a private company value indication, valuation analysts can consider the price differential found in public company dual class firms. This paper examines voting premium levels found to exist for U.S. public companies for 2004 and 2005; we found median premiums close to zero, wide variation in premiums across the individual public companies analyzed, and considerably lower premiums in 2005 compared with 2004.