Seven of the top 12 shareholders of Facebook and Monsanto are identical.
Even more to the point, three of the top five shareholders are the same.
The top shareholder, at the moment, in Monsanto is The Vanguard Group, which is number two on the list of top Facebook shareholders.
FMR, LLC, is the number one Facebook shareholder. For Monsanto, it’s number two.
The State Street Corporation is the number three shareholder for both Facebook and Monsanto.
BlackRock Institutional Trust Company is Monsanto’s number five shareholder, and ranks at number four for Facebook.
The other top dozen shareholders of both Monsanto and Facebook are Jennison Associates, Sands Capital Management, and the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund.
Yes, these are all investment funds, and they spread their enormous money around. They own shares of many, many publicly traded companies
But the comparison of Monsanto and Facebook illustrates how, at the top of the food chain, there is connected wealth. These investment funds can, if they choose to, intercede in companies’ proxy votes to alter company policy.
Read the full story: http://www.minds.com/blog/view/294274078234120192/facebook-and-monsanto-top-shareholders-are-identical