Billionaire Voting Power: Meta, Alphabet and Berkshire Compared
Voting power can diverge sharply from the share counts investors see
Across these three reviewed SEC observations, Mark Zuckerberg held 60.8% of Meta's total voting power, Warren Buffett held 29.7% of Berkshire Hathaway's, and Sergey Brin held 25.3% of Alphabet's. The common comparison is total voting power. Security-class ownership percentages answer a different question and use a different denominator.
Total voting power held by each billionaire
This is the one percentage in the study that is comparable across the three companies. Each bar shows the individual's share of total company voting power at the stated SEC observation date.
Share of total voting power
Total voting power percentages for Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, and Sergey Brin
Why one share does not mean one vote
The three companies use different multi-class structures. That is why raw share counts cannot explain control across them.
- Class A Common Stock: 1 vote per share.
- Class B Common Stock: 10 votes per share.
Mark Zuckerberg held 99.8% of Meta Platforms Class B Common Stock and 60.8% of total voting power at the cited observation date. Those percentages have different denominators.
- Class A Common Stock: 1 vote per share.
- Class B Common Stock: 10 votes per share.
- Class C Capital Stock: no vote.
Sergey Brin held 42.9% of Alphabet Class B Common Stock and 25.3% of total voting power at the cited observation date. Those percentages have different denominators.
- Class A Common Stock: 1 vote per share.
- Class B Common Stock: 1/10,000 of a vote per share.
Warren Buffett held 38.2% of Berkshire Hathaway Class A Common Stock and 29.7% of total voting power at the cited observation date. Those percentages have different denominators.
The reviewed observations
The reference-class column explains where concentrated voting rights sit. It is not a second cross-company ranking metric.
| Person / company | Total voting power | Reference security class | Class ownership | Observation date | Primary evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Zuckerberg Meta Platforms | 60.8% Majority of total voting power in this observation. | Meta Platforms Class B Common Stock | 99.8% Separate class-specific denominator. | April 1, 2026 | Meta Platforms 2026 Proxy Statement |
| Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway | 29.7% | Berkshire Hathaway Class A Common Stock | 38.2% Separate class-specific denominator. | July 14, 2026 | Warren Buffett Schedule 13D Amendment filed July 15, 2026 · Berkshire Hathaway Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 |
| Sergey Brin Alphabet | 25.3% | Alphabet Class B Common Stock | 42.9% Separate class-specific denominator. | April 6, 2026 | Alphabet 2026 Proxy Statement |
What the comparison supports
- Zuckerberg's reviewed Meta observation exceeds 50% of total voting power, so it represents majority voting control at that date.
- Buffett and Brin each held large minority shares of total voting power in their reviewed company observations.
- Meta and Alphabet give their Class B shares ten votes per share, while Berkshire gives each Class B share only one-ten-thousandth of an A-share vote.
- Companywide voting-power percentage is the appropriate common comparison across the three observations.
- The three-company cohort is not representative of billionaire or founder control across the public market.
- Voting power is not the same as economic interest, market value, or net worth.
- Class ownership percentages cannot be subtracted from voting-power percentages to estimate a control premium.
- The cited percentages are not asserted to remain unchanged after their observation dates.
Methodology
- Start from the reviewed public-equity relationship study and select only person-company observations with both an explicit total-voting-power percentage and a reviewed security-class ownership percentage.
- Use the issuer's share-class voting rules from primary SEC disclosures.
- Use total voting power as the only cross-company percentage comparison because it has the same conceptual denominator: all company voting power at the stated date.
- Keep the security-class ownership percentage beside the voting-power figure as context, but never subtract or ratio the two because their denominators differ.
- Do not add current prices, economic-interest estimates, or net-worth calculations.
The underlying reviewed relationships are published in the Billionaire Public-Equity Positions Dataset, version 1.0.
Primary SEC sources
The voting-power percentages, class-ownership percentages, and share-class voting rules all come from issuer or beneficial-ownership filings hosted by the SEC.
Download the reviewed comparison
The public files preserve the three observations, component dates, voting-class rules, SEC source links, and the separate-denominator caveat.
Research data
- Download CSVCSVCSV downloadTabular public study data for spreadsheet analysis, independent checks, and new charts.Data snapshot July 14, 2026 · Reuse with attribution to the canonical study.
- Download JSONJSONJSON downloadStructured public study data for programmatic verification while preserving the published field names and research context.Data snapshot July 14, 2026 · Reuse with attribution to the canonical study.
Citation and reuse
You may cite this comparison or reuse the public data with attribution. Preserve the person-specific observation date and distinguish total voting power from security-class ownership.
If you quote both percentages for one person, label which is total voting power and which is ownership of the named security class. Do not present their difference as a control premium.