The Stock Market Explained When a company goes public, it decides how many units to create, what rights attach to each unit, and who gets which type. SpaceX created two types. Class A is what they sold to the public. Your pension fund, retail investors, institutional buyers — everyone who bought at IPO got Class A. One vote per share. If you own 1,000 shares, you have 1,000 votes. Class B is what Musk holds. He did not buy these at IPO. He held them before the company went public, as the founder