Palantir Industries, the data-mining company owned by billionaire Peter
Thiel, went public this week. But take note, if you buy stock in the
company you will have virtually no say
in the company's operations. Thanks to super-voting shares, Thiel and
two other co-founders will retain voting control in perpetuity. Other
Silicon Valley companies like Alphabet, Facebook, and Snap have similar
voting structures. As Ohio State professor Michael Weisbach notes,
"They set it up so Peter Thiel can still sort of run it like a private
company and still have the advantage of being public." The three
co-founders will retain 49.99 percent of the voting power in the company
regardless of the number of shares owned.
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Thiel In Control
