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Is that how things work at valve? I thought employees do whatever they want and there's minimal structure.

Gabe allegedly (nobody knows because it's a private company) owns 50.1%, it's not majority employee owned. It's possible he might turn it over to the employees or some kind of co-op style board but who knows if he's offered the right price by a cashed up investor.

He's got children to consider and could reasonably want to set them and his grandchildren up for generational wealth.

Which just further highlights the importance of actual DRM free ownership. Even in the face of a relatively benevolent corporation, that corporation won’t be that way forever. Leaders and cultures change, sometimes overnight (look at what happened when Broadcom bought VMWare, they started extorting customers immediately). Adobe is another good example that pulled the rug out from underneath creatives and started renting software instead of selling it.

Gabe Newell is estimated at $11 billion net worth. I think his grandchildren are already set.

Granted, his money, he can do as he pleases, but the Newell dynasty already exists, regardless of what happens to his shares.

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