Why a company can have one stock on NASDAQ and one stock on OTC?

Question

ATRO is traded on NASDAQ.

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ATRO

ATROB is traded on OTC.

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ATROB

I don't understand why a company has one stock on NASDAQ and one stock on OTC. Does anybody know?

Answer 1

Astronics Corporation (ATRO) has two types of issued stock: Common stock and Corporate Class B stock.

The common stock (ATRO) found on NASDAQ is the "standard" type of equity stock that gives you a 1 to 1 vote to share basis (usually you get one vote per share owned, which is the case for ATRO).

The corporate class B stock (ATROB) found on the OTC market is a second type of stock that gives you more company votes per share.

The description of this issued company proxy vote describes the differences quite well:

[...] Astronics was initially formed with one class of common stock (“Common Stock”). In 1987, the Company’s shareholders voted to adopt a second class of common stock, called Class B Stock. In addition, the Board of Directors proposed appropriate amendments to the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation for the additional class of stock, which were also approved by the shareholders. As a result, Astronics has two classes of stock: Common Stock with one vote per share, and Class B Stock with ten votes per share.

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The issued document also describe how a transfer/sale of class B stock will be converted to common stock (with no cost to the shareholder) and lose the rights or entitlements associated with the Class B Stock. As is also written on the company FAQ there is "no market" for the Class B stock and thus the market will be specified as OTC, whereas the common stock is traded on NASDAQ.