FWIW I think this is better than avoiding the tax.
FWIW I think this is better than avoiding the tax.
In some sense Meta has doubled the voting power of Zuckerberg's shares. Previously he had X shares with 10X votes. Now he has 2X shares, can sell half of them for close to the market price, and still keep his 10X votes.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000162828026...
"The board establishes a new Class C share type with no votes. It also announces a one-time dividend of a Class C share for each Class A and B share outstanding".
Please tell me what I got wrong.
"If Zuckerberg needs to pay taxes, he can sell his new zero-vote shares to raise money without diluting his voting rights. Not too many: He can “immediately sell or transfer up to 20% of the shares of Class C common stock that he receives in the Dividend, representing 10% of his overall economic stake in the Company, for any reason,” but the board “negotiated for and obtained Mr. Zuckerberg’s agreement that 80% of the shares of Class C common stock that he receives in the Dividend be subject to the Stapling Condition,” under which he can’t sell those no-vote shares without also selling some high-vote shares. The basic deal remains intact — he needs to own a meaningful chunk of shares to keep voting control — but there’s a liquidity buffer for taxes."
On the other hand, once the non-voting shares exist, he's going to sell them some day.