An American sports clothing and accessories company, Under Armour, has recently approved the creation of Class C of common stock.

Over the past 20 years, Plank transformed under Armour from a flyspeck maker of workout wear into a legitimate competitor to Nike Inc.

Behind this modern success is an old-fashioned approach to corporate governance. Plank, 42, has managed to maintain a strong grip on his company by thumbing his nose at the very suggestion of shareholder democracy.

Planks's B shares have 10 times the voting power of Class A shares; these are the ones which everyday investors can buy.

Now, he gladly wants to issue a third class i. e. Class C shares, which have bond voting rights at all. Google Inc. took similar steps to keep founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin firmly in control.

Corporate governance experts said in a statement that it is no way to run a public company, as shareholders are the actual owners of the company and this means they should have a right to say.

Nell Minow, vice-chair of ValueEdge Advisors, which offers institutional shareholders guidance on corporate governance, said in a statement that anybody who buys nonvoting shares is a nitwit.

Charles Elson, who runs the corporate governance center at the University of Delaware, says multiple stock classes are simply undemocratic.

Founders and CEOs have all the control with none of the accountability. This leaves ordinary shareholders at their mercy, with no way to express displeasure other than to sell their holdings, said Elson.

Plank in a letter to his shareholders he said his multi-class setup has served us well so far. Since the 2005 IPO, Under Armour's stock has soared 2,400 per cent. On Tuesday, the shares climbed as much as 1.9 % to $82.69, leaving them up 20 % so far this year.

Maintaining this 'founder-led' approach will allow the company to continue to focus on driving long-term growth, innovation and shareholder value, the company said in an e-mailed statement.