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Comment by randall | Hacker News Reader

Different classes of stock is the Google and FB way, IIRC.

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/02/01/at-facebook-governance...

As I understand, Sam would rather that you not do what Zuckerberg has done. Zuckerberg can't just not be fired because of the things he's done in terms of how he has set up the governance structure, he can also acquire whatever company he wants, block sale of any part of Facebook, etc. with or without the support of the board. Sam, I think, does not want you to have this power. So the question still remains.

It's religious zeal verses rational waffling. If big Z is perfect forever, there's no issue at all. He will, by default, do whatever is best for his company in any circumstances. That approach can be amazing or howard hughes like.

On the other hand, you dilute power between an array of smart talented people. Any action requires consensus. In the best case, you get congress when passing a "think of the children" resolution. In the worst case, you get congress with pretty much any other piece of legislation.

For all of Howard Hughes unusual personality traits he was until the end a very good business man. It will be interesting to see if the big z gets close to Howard.

I wonder why making all stock non-voting don't tend to be used.

I think it's simply that it's harder to find buyers for that kind of stock. And finding buyers for stock in a high risk enterprise is already a pretty difficult task.

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