When you own shares, you own a fraction of the company. The assets of the company partly belong to you, and if you have the voting power, you can decide to pay

When you own shares, you own a fraction of the company. The assets of the company partly belong to you, and if you have the voting power, you can decide to pay out some of it. Of course, there's a philosophical argument to be made if the ownership structure is such that a dividend decision like that can never be made. I suppose everyone is confident that if the leadership of such a company actually tried to assert that "no, your class ZZ share is actually just monopoly money, and your ownership share does not entitle you to any rights", such a claim would be struck down in court. Or cause the stock price to crash to such a degree that the class A shareholders would amend the agreement.