Chuck Darwin<p>The root of the problem is that the United States and Silicon Valley in particular are dominated by what we call an <br />🆘 “investor monoculture.” </p><p>Modern corporations are designed to serve investors and no one else. </p><p>About 80% of public company stock in the United States is owned by institutional investors, <br />most of which have one objective: <br />to maximize profits, <br />largely in the short term and without regard to the costs for society. </p><p>In 1980, their share of stocks was just 29%.</p><p>Venture capital firms, <br />the biggest funders of Silicon Valley startups, <br />have grown from under $400 billion in assets in 2010 <br />to nearly $4 trillion today. </p><p>Their performance is measured by <br />“multiples on invested capital,” or “<a href="https://c.im/tags/MOIC" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>MOIC</span></a>,” as insiders call it.</p><p>Suicide rates among young people are up more than 60% since 2007, <br />and U.S. democracy is in danger. <br />-- But these are not investors’ concerns.</p><p>Regulation and advocacy can certainly make a difference. </p><p>But Big Tech is cash-rich, lawyered up and capable of running circles around regulators.</p><p>It’s time for a different approach. </p><p>When businesses are owned and governed by employees, customers, suppliers or communities, they become less predatory <br />and more benign. </p><p>⭐️And as it turns out, corporations have been designed in such ways across time and cultures. </p><p>Capitalism comes in many forms.</p><p>❇️Farmers, employees or customers own and govern some of the world’s most respected companies, <br />including <br />Ocean Spray, <br />Publix Super Markets, <br />Organic Valley, <br />New York Life Insurance Co. and <br />Vanguard. </p><p>❇️Corporations such as Patagonia, <br />Rolex, <br />Novo Nordisk and <br />Ikea <br />are owned or controlled by nonprofits, trusts or foundations, <br />which have no investors <br />and thus face less pressure to boost profits.</p><p>Silicon Valley has examples too. </p><p>❇️Mozilla, which operates the web browser Firefox, <br />is owned by a nonprofit. </p><p>It has no incentive to maximize profits, <br />which explains why it does not sell user data to advertisers. </p><p>❇️Wikipedia, among the world’s most visited websites, is also run by a nonprofit, <br />which shows that scale and impact don’t always depend on investor capital.</p><p>❇️A nonprofit owns a majority of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, <br />a design it chose to “ensure that artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity.” </p><p>But its minority investors, such as Microsoft, are profit-driven, <br />which has led to concerns that it’s releasing products at an irresponsible pace.</p><p> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Elon" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Elon</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Musk</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Peter" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Peter</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Thiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Thiel</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Marc" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Marc</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Andreessen" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Andreessen</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ben" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Ben</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Horowitz" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Horowitz</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Trump</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Reid" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Reid</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Hoffman" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Hoffman</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Harris" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Harris</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/cryptocurrency" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>cryptocurrency</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/artificial" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>artificial</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/intelligence" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>intelligence</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Lina" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Lina</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Khan" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Khan</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/addiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>addiction</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/eliminating" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>eliminating</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/humans" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>humans</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Daron" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Daron</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Acemoglu" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Acemoglu</span></a></p>