Meta strikes a deal to keep Zuckerberg in California as a wealth tax looms

California's proposed billionaire tax

5 % one-time tax

California voters decide on Nov 3 on a one-time 5 per cent tax on residents worth more than US$1 billion.

Meta will give Mark Zuckerberg non-voting shares he can sell to pay a tax bill without losing control of the company. In return, he has committed to stay in California, or wherever Meta is headquartered, for eight years.

Non-voting Class C shares

20 sellable now 80 restricted at first

He can sell 20 per cent of the non-voting shares at once, while limits on the other 80 per cent lapse gradually over eight years.

Zuckerberg had told Meta's board he was weighing a move out of California. Governor Gavin Newsom opposes the tax, and a group of billionaires has spent roughly US$300 million to defeat it.