Dual-class shares freed founders to buy unprofitable startups for behavioral surplus

Evidence

Facebook’s Zuckerberg pursued the same strategies, paying “astronomical” prices for a “fast and furious” parade of typically unprofitable startups like virtual reality firm Oculus (2 billion) and the messaging application WhatsApp (19 billion), thus ensuring Facebook’s ownership of the gargantuan flows of human behavior that would pour through these pipes. Consistent with the extraction imperative, Zuckerberg told investors that he would not consider driving revenue until the service reaches “billions” of users. As one tech journalist put it, “There’s no real need for Zuckerberg to chat with the board… there’s no way for shareholders to check Zuckerberg’s antics.…” — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 328

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to corporate governance literature on dual-class shares and founder control limiting shareholder oversight. — connects to: Tech founders control their firms through extreme dual-class voting structures. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1900; Google’s dual-class share structure insulated founders from market and investor pressures — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 322