Two share classes, one voting agreement. Understanding this tells you who Robinhood actually answers to.
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✦ The bottom line
Robinhood has two classes of stock. The Class B shares, held by the founders, carry far more votes than the Class A shares the public buys. Combined with a Founders' Voting Agreement, this gives the founders over 50% of the voting power — meaning ordinary shareholders can't outvote them.
↓ the brief below
✦ Teach me
Two classes of stock
When you buy HOOD, you get Class A shares — one vote each. The founders hold Class B shares, which carry many more votes each. So even though the public owns most of the company, the founders control most of the votes.
This is common at founder-led tech companies (Meta, Alphabet, and others do it). It lets founders pursue a long-term vision without being second-guessed every quarter. The flip side: if they make bad calls, you can't vote them out.
Wall Street calls this
Dual-class share structure
Voting control decides who picks the board, approves big deals, and sets strategy. When founders hold majority votes, you're betting on *them personally* — their judgment is the company's governance.
From the 10-K · the control, in Robinhood's own words
…has the effect of concentrating voting power with our founders, which limits your ability to influence the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval. In addition, the Founders' Voting Agreement and any future issuances of our Class C common stock could prolong the duration of our founders' voting control.
↳ Robinhood itself flags this as a risk. It's not hidden — it's filed. Read it as: the founders have durable, structural control, and the company is telling you plainly that your vote as a Class A holder has limited weight.
Concentrated control isn't all downside. Because the founders hold so much equity and voting power, their personal fortunes are tied to the stock — they win when long-term shareholders win. They steered the company through the 2022 crash and out the other side into profitability.
The bet you're making: that founder control here means long-term thinking, not entrenchment.
Wall Street calls this
Founder alignment
Founder control plus founder ownership can be a strength — owners think in decades, not quarters. The risk is only realized if their judgment fails and there's no way to overrule them.
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Watch
Founders are deeply aligned and led a real turnaround — but they hold majority voting control, so shareholders are along for the ride either way.