Stock may be either "common" or "preferred". The difference is that common stock has voting rights attached (though a company can have multiple classes of common stock, with some having more voting rights than others: an example is [[Berkshire Hathaway]] has both Class A and Class B stock where the Class A stock has 10,000 times the voting power of the Class B stock), while preferred stock has preferential rights in receiving dividends over common stock (Public Storage, a large owner-operator of self-storage facilities, has multiple classes of preferred stock, each paying a different dividend amount). | Stock may be either "common" or "preferred". The difference is that common stock has voting rights attached (though a company can have multiple classes of common stock, with some having more voting rights than others: an example is [[Berkshire Hathaway]] has both Class A and Class B stock where the Class A stock has 10,000 times the voting power of the Class B stock), while preferred stock has preferential rights in receiving dividends over common stock (Public Storage, a large owner-operator of self-storage facilities, has multiple classes of preferred stock, each paying a different dividend amount). |