How Founder Voting Control Changed at 10 Public Companies
Founder voting power rose at five companies, fell at four, and was unchanged at one
Across the same 10-company cohort used in our founder-control study, the median disclosure-to-disclosure change was +0.15 pp. Eric Yuan had the largest increase at +5.9 pp; Tony Xu had the largest decrease at -2.1 pp.
How the 10 founder-control observations changed
Rows are ordered by percentage-point change. The bars encode the current share of total company voting power on a common 100% scale; the detail beneath each bar shows the prior value, signed change, and exact observation interval.
Current total voting power, ordered by change
Previous and current issuer observations
| Founder / company | Previous | Current | Change | Interval | Primary evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eric Yuan Zoom Communications | 31.8% January 31, 2025 | 37.7% July 31, 2026 | +5.9 pp increased | 546 days | Zoom Communications 2025 Form 10-K · Zoom Communications Q2 FY2027 Form 10-Q The current observation is July 31, 2026, so this disclosure-to-disclosure interval is 546 days rather than one year. The change is not annualized. |
| Drew Houston Dropbox | 78.48% March 31, 2025 | 82.4% March 31, 2026 | +3.92 pp increased | 365 days | Dropbox 2025 Proxy Statement · Dropbox 2026 Proxy Statement |
| Brian Chesky Airbnb | 30.5% April 7, 2025 | 31.9% April 8, 2026 | +1.4 pp increased | 366 days | Airbnb 2025 Proxy Statement · Airbnb 2026 Proxy Statement |
| Jack Dorsey Block | 41.3% March 31, 2025 | 42.2% March 31, 2026 | +0.9 pp increased | 365 days | Block 2025 Proxy Statement · Block 2026 Proxy Statement |
| Larry Page Alphabet | 27.1% April 8, 2025 | 27.4% April 6, 2026 | +0.3 pp increased | 363 days | Alphabet 2025 Proxy Statement · Alphabet 2026 Proxy Statement |
| Evan Spiegel Snap | 53.1% December 31, 2024 | 53.1% December 31, 2025 | 0.0 pp unchanged | 365 days | Snap 2024 Form 10-K · Snap 2025 Form 10-K |
| Tobi Lütke Shopify | 40.03% April 7, 2025 | 40.02% April 21, 2026 | -0.01 pp decreased | 379 days | Shopify 2025 Management Information Circular · Shopify 2026 Management Information Circular Shopify's single Founder Share carries a variable number of votes. The comparison uses the issuer-reported aggregate voting-power percentage at each observation date rather than assigning the Founder Share a fixed vote multiplier. |
| Mark Zuckerberg Meta Platforms | 61% April 1, 2025 | 60.8% April 1, 2026 | -0.2 pp decreased | 365 days | Meta Platforms 2025 Proxy Statement · Meta Platforms 2026 Proxy Statement |
| Brian Armstrong Coinbase Global | 50.2% March 31, 2025 | 49.6% March 31, 2026 | -0.6 pp decreased | 365 days | Coinbase Global 2025 Proxy Statement · Coinbase Global 2026 Proxy Statement The individual Brian Armstrong row is compared across both periods; separately disclosed trusts with an independent trustee are not added to his individual voting-power percentage. |
| Tony Xu DoorDash | 57.6% March 1, 2025 | 55.5% March 1, 2026 | -2.1 pp decreased | 365 days | DoorDash 2025 Proxy Statement · DoorDash 2026 Proxy Statement Both observations use DoorDash's issuer-reported total voting authority for Tony Xu, including shares subject to irrevocable voting proxies from co-founders. The issuer-reported voting-authority percentage is not a beneficial-ownership percentage. |
Three rows that need extra context
Both observations use DoorDash's issuer-reported total voting authority for Tony Xu, including shares subject to irrevocable voting proxies from co-founders. The issuer-reported voting-authority percentage is not a beneficial-ownership percentage.
Shopify's single Founder Share carries a variable number of votes. The comparison uses the issuer-reported aggregate voting-power percentage at each observation date rather than assigning the Founder Share a fixed vote multiplier.
What the changes support—and what they do not
- 5 of 10 founder observations increased, 4 decreased, and 1 was unchanged.
- The observed changes range from -2.1 pp to +5.9 pp.
- The cohort median change is +0.15 pp.
- Each comparison uses total company voting power on both endpoints and retains the issuer-specific control mechanism.
- The selected cohort is not evidence for the typical public company or founder.
- A higher percentage does not by itself prove a founder bought shares; a lower percentage does not by itself prove a founder sold shares.
- Voting-power change is not economic-ownership change, market-value change, or net-worth change.
- The mixed observation intervals should not be compared as annual growth rates.
Methodology
- Use the same reviewed 10-company founder cohort as the founder voting-control study.
- For each founder/company pair, locate the closest earlier issuer disclosure that reports the same total-company-voting-power denominator with comparable founder/control semantics.
- Compute percentage-point change as current voting power minus previous voting power. Do not compute a percent-growth rate from percentages.
- Preserve both observation dates and the exact day interval. Do not annualize rows whose intervals differ.
- Keep special control mechanisms attached to the figures, including DoorDash proxy authority and Shopify's variable-vote Founder Share.
- Use the same reviewed current endpoint as the parent founder-control study so the two publications remain directly comparable.
For each row, the prior observation is the closest earlier issuer disclosure we found with a comparable total-voting-power denominator and founder/control definition.
Limitations
- This is the same selected 10-company cohort as the current founder voting-control study version 1.0, not a representative sample of public companies.
- The study measures change in issuer-disclosed total company voting power, not change in economic ownership, beneficial ownership, market value, or net worth.
- A voting-power percentage can change because of founder holdings, conversions, voting agreements, proxy authority, issuer share-count changes, or other denominator effects. This study does not assign a cause unless a source explicitly supports one.
- Observation intervals are preserved per row and are not all exactly one year; the percentage-point changes are not annualized.
- DoorDash's voting-authority total includes irrevocable proxy authority and Shopify's Founder Share has variable votes, so those mechanisms must remain attached to the comparison.
Primary SEC sources
Each row has an earlier quantitative source plus the reviewed current source used in the founder-control study. Context-only current sources remain labeled rather than being mistaken for quantitative endpoints.
Download the reviewed comparison
CSV and JSON include both endpoint values and dates, signed percentage-point changes, interval lengths, control mechanisms, comparability notes, canonical profile links where available, and primary-source URLs.
Citation and reuse
When citing a change, preserve both observation dates and describe it as a percentage-point change in disclosed total voting power—not a percentage change in ownership.
For DoorDash, keep the irrevocable-proxy voting-authority semantics. For Shopify, keep the variable Founder Share. For Zoom, note that the comparison interval is 546 days and is not annualized.