Mark Zuckerberg’s creative plan to pay California’s proposed billionaire tax without losing control of Meta
A newly launched stock class being offered was partially engineered to help Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg pay the "billionaire's tax," should the measure be voted into law.
Meta revealed a new class of non-voting stock, called Class C common stock, during its earnings call, which will take effect in January. The shares will provide an ownership stake without voting rights, allowing founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to sell some of them to cover California's proposed billionaire tax without losing voting control.
Proposition 40, a one-time 5% wealth tax on California billionaires, could generate $100 billion over five years, primarily for healthcare and education. Zuckerberg reportedly pressured Meta's board to create this plan to protect him from the tax, eventually leading to the development of the new stock class. The SEC filing states that Zuckerberg discussed the billionaire tax with board members as early as July and continued to do so throughout August.
The filing explains that Meta will issue a one-time stock dividend, creating Class C shares to allow Zuckerberg to sell up to 20% of them, representing 10% of his total economic stake in the company, without affecting his majority voting control.
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