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These are shares which rank in all respects equally to other ordinary shares except that they have an extremely low par value. Since the voting right of a share is in direct proportion to its par value, this allows certain listed companies to be controlled by a very small proportion of their contributing shareholders. In effect, it amounts to a pyramid scheme. The Companies Act (71 of 2008) phased out par values, but there are still some counters trading on the JSE which have "N" shares. N-shares are frowned upon by the international investment community. Naspers has 435,5 million shares in issue of which 397 million are N-shares and the rest are "A" shares. Altogether the N-shareholders have only got roughly 32% of the votes while the A-shareholders have 68%. Each "A" share has 1000 times the voting rights of an "N" share. This has made it possible for a small group of shareholders who control the "A" shares (Koos Bekker, Cobus Stofberg and Sanlam) to push through resolutions which were opposed by as much as 70% of the "N" shareholders. The result of this "unfair" allocation of voting rights has meant that Naspers consistently trades at 50% below the market value of the assets which it owns. So N-shares are a mechanism similar to a pyramid scheme in that they allow a small minority of shareholders control a company.

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