7. Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Stockholders' Equity Attributable to Parent [Abstract]

Stockholders' Equity Note Disclosure [Text Block]

7.    STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

Bio-Rad’s issued and outstanding stock consists of Class A Common Stock (Class A) and Class B Common Stock (Class B).  Each share of Class A and Class B participates equally in the earnings of Bio-Rad, and is identical in all respects except as follows. Class A has limited voting rights.  Each share of Class A is entitled to one tenth of a vote on most matters, and each share of Class B is entitled to one vote.  Additionally, Class A stockholders are entitled to elect 25% of the Board of Directors and Class B stockholders are entitled to elect 75% of the directors. Cash dividends may be paid on Class A shares without paying a cash dividend on Class B shares but no cash dividend may be paid on Class B shares unless at least an equal cash dividend is paid on Class A shares.  Class B shares are convertible at any time into Class A shares on a one-for-one basis at the option of the stockholder.  The founders of Bio-Rad, the Schwartz family, collectively hold a majority of Bio-Rad’s voting stock.  As a result, the Schwartz family is able to exercise significant influence over Bio-Rad.

Changes to Bio-Rad's issued common stock shares are as follows (in thousands):

	Class A Shares	Class B Shares
Balance at January 1, 2014	23,681	5,097
B to A conversions	5	(5	)
Issuance of common stock	286	7
Balance at December 31, 2014	23,972	5,099
B to A conversions	18	(18	)
Issuance of common stock	240	50
Balance at December 31, 2015	24,230	5,131
B to A conversions	13	(13	)
Issuance of common stock	211	6
Balance at December 31, 2016	24,454	5,124

Treasury Shares

The Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $18.0 million of Bio-Rad's common stock, of which $3.3 million has yet to be repurchased in the open market as of December 31, 2016. The Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (Credit Agreement) limits our ability to repurchase our stock. In accordance with the terms of awards under the 2007 Incentive Award Plan, in June 2012, we withheld 122 shares of our Class A common stock and 917 shares of our Class B common stock to satisfy the minimum statutory tax obligations due upon the vesting of restricted stock of certain of our employees, which is considered a repurchase of our stock. All of the restricted stock vested as of December 31, 2013, and therefore we do not anticipate any repurchasing of shares for this purpose. We had no other repurchases of our stock during 2016 or 2015.