Meta Gave Zuckerberg a New Share Class So He Can Pay California's Wealth Tax Without Losing Control
Mark Zuckerberg Pushed Meta to Shield Him from California's Proposed Wealth Tax
California's proposed wealth tax would force Mark Zuckerberg to sell Meta stock, threatening his voting control. Meta's board created a new non-voting Class C share class and issued a one-time dividend of one Class C share per Class A and B share — effectively a stock split. Zuckerberg can sell up to 20% of his new shares for taxes while keeping his high-vote stake, though 80% are stapled to voting shares. Commenters debate whether this protects shareholders or simply shields a billionaire from the law's intent.
The point of the law is to reduce the power of billionaires. Billionaires using their power to change the rules and systemically avoid loss of power using a mechanism available to literally nobody else is pretty much the antithesis of this idea.
- minimaxa
Not a big fan since we now only get 2 links a month,
But it would have been easier to relocate to the border in Tahoe than fill out mountains of paperwork; he lives on an estate in a Maui bunker anyway, not spoilt for housing options...
Not very good with building technology; he lost 80 billion on a nonexistent metaverse fail. Is that now a tax loss?
- gexla
We don't have to post hyperbole or speculation (there's social media for that.) This is a public company, we can read public documents such as...
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000162828026...
NOTE: Look for "Founder Alignment Agreement" in the above doc as an example if you're doing a quick scan.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000162828026...
https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-deta...
- gnabgib
Comments:
Guardian: Meta strikes deal with Zuckerberg to protect him from California wealth tax (39 points, 2 days ago, 33 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50193581
Wired: Mark Zuckerberg Agrees to Stay in California Despite Billionaires' Tax Measure (5 points, 2 days ago, 3 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50188801
Telegraph: Meta strikes deal to protect Zuckerberg from California billionaire tax (9 points, 2 days ago) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50191129
WSJ: Mark Zuckerberg Threatened to Leave California. Meta’s Board Cut Him a Deal (4 points, 2 days ago) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50193052 (30 points, 1 day ago, 40 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50199284
- JKCalhoun
- triceratops
Alternative headline: "Man asks for raise because his taxes went up"
FWIW I think this is better than avoiding the tax.
- ChrisArchitect
- TacticalCoder
I understand it's a move to keep his voting shares but... Why would the board care if the Zuck was to sell his big house in California? What was the threat to Meta/the board?
- digitaltrees
Public companies shouldn’t be allowed to have super majority shareholders that rule like a king.