Snap, the disappearing messaging app, caused uproar among investors last year after it sold $3.4bn of stock with no voting rights during its initial public offering.
It was the latest sign for many investors that the long-held principle of “one share, one vote” was being eroded by companies, which readily accept fund managers and pension funds’ money but were, the investors believed, increasingly unwilling to give them sufficient say on how those businesses were run.
In the months since, a growing number of investors have stepped up their lobbying efforts against what they see as the watering down of governance standards globally, warning that shareholders need to be able to hold companies to account.