6 ms·

It's not just the exchange that struggles: 1. Many retail investors do not have the funds to buy a full share. 2. Anyone who makes a spreadsheet containing th

by nroets 5y ago

It's not just the exchange that struggles: 1. Many retail investors do not have the funds to buy a full share. 2. Anyone who makes a spreadsheet containing the share prices of largest companies has to make that column wide enough to accommodate 6 digit numbers.

sunpar 5y ago
He created BRKB for just this purpose. He doesn't need to split BRKA for any reason other than Nasdaq's computers
- nroets 5y ago
  Creating a second class of share is a very very bad solution: It splits exchange liquidity. It also complicates all the investor relations correspondence, adding lawyer fees.
  - dsomers 5y ago
    I think they’re doing fine regardless.
    - andy_ppp 5y ago
      Just because you’re powerful does that give you the right to be more difficult?
      - vokep 5y ago
        Yes. If not having power, that seems upsetting. But...thats how power works, otherwise it isn't powerful.
        andy_ppp 5y ago
        I think you can be considerate and powerful, but maybe I’m in the minority!
- KptMarchewa 5y ago
  Different class shares should be illegal.
  - rhyswallace 5y ago
    And why's that?
    - rjmunro 5y ago
      Because the owner of the other class of share believes themselves to own part of the company, but they don't. It's confusing. What you really own is some sort of bond from the company that guarantees they will pay you an amount equivalent to a dividend or something, not a share of the company.
      - dragonwriter 5y ago
        > Because the owner of the other class of share believes themselves to own part of the company, but they don't. Shares, whether in one class or many, are packages of claims against the company, not really ownership of the company in the simple sense. That’s fairly fundamental to the corporate form as distinct from, say, partnerships.
    - KptMarchewa 5y ago
      Because shares express ownership, and ownership is defined by being able to make decisions about the owned thing.
  - beambot 5y ago
    A huge fraction of publicly traded companies have preferred stock in addition to their standard ticker... They just have different terms (eg pricing vs underlying, dividends, etc).
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
ReptileMan 5y ago
>1. Many retail investors do not have the funds to buy a full share. That is a feature, not a bug
- Mauricebranagh 5y ago
  Yes Smithers we don't want the "poor's" getting their greasy fingers on our shares :-) This also leads to those dodgy partial share adverts targeting younger unexperienced investors which is not a good thing in the long run.
nly 5y ago
Many mobile platforms/brokers let you but fractions of a share now.
FishbowlPrime 5y ago
Most of modern retail platforms offer fractional shares.
- tachyonbeam 5y ago
  I don't know of any platform that offers that in my country.

by nroets 5y ago

sunpar 5y ago

He created BRKB for just this purpose. He doesn't need to split BRKA for any reason other than Nasdaq's computers

nroets 5y ago
Creating a second class of share is a very very bad solution: It splits exchange liquidity. It also complicates all the investor relations correspondence, adding lawyer fees.
- dsomers 5y ago
  I think they’re doing fine regardless.
  - andy_ppp 5y ago
    Just because you’re powerful does that give you the right to be more difficult?
    - vokep 5y ago
      Yes. If not having power, that seems upsetting. But...thats how power works, otherwise it isn't powerful.
      - andy_ppp 5y ago
        I think you can be considerate and powerful, but maybe I’m in the minority!
KptMarchewa 5y ago
Different class shares should be illegal.
- rhyswallace 5y ago
  And why's that?
  - rjmunro 5y ago
    Because the owner of the other class of share believes themselves to own part of the company, but they don't. It's confusing. What you really own is some sort of bond from the company that guarantees they will pay you an amount equivalent to a dividend or something, not a share of the company.
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      > Because the owner of the other class of share believes themselves to own part of the company, but they don't. Shares, whether in one class or many, are packages of claims against the company, not really ownership of the company in the simple sense. That’s fairly fundamental to the corporate form as distinct from, say, partnerships.
  - KptMarchewa 5y ago
    Because shares express ownership, and ownership is defined by being able to make decisions about the owned thing.
- beambot 5y ago
  A huge fraction of publicly traded companies have preferred stock in addition to their standard ticker... They just have different terms (eg pricing vs underlying, dividends, etc).
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

ReptileMan 5y ago

>1. Many retail investors do not have the funds to buy a full share. That is a feature, not a bug

Mauricebranagh 5y ago
Yes Smithers we don't want the "poor's" getting their greasy fingers on our shares :-) This also leads to those dodgy partial share adverts targeting younger unexperienced investors which is not a good thing in the long run.

nly 5y ago

Many mobile platforms/brokers let you but fractions of a share now.

FishbowlPrime 5y ago

Most of modern retail platforms offer fractional shares.

tachyonbeam 5y ago
I don't know of any platform that offers that in my country.