The idea that voting power should go hand in hand with share ownership has become so entrenched a principle of corporate governance that it is rarely questioned.

This week Alibaba, the Chinese internet group, opted to float in the US because the Hong Kong stock exchange would not bend its rules to allow the company’s owners to control the equity, despite owning only a minority of the shares. Most observers sided with the HK authorities while condemning the US for engaging in a regulatory race to the bottom.

The US is not alone in allowing listed companies to issue multiple share classes with different voting weights, but it has become the destination of choice for technology companies. Since Google went public with two classes of shares in 2004, others, such as Groupon, LinkedIn and Facebook, have followed suit.