Steward-ownership: lock control with a veto ("golden") share held by an independent purpose entity
#00100
Sell a tiny veto share (~1%) to an independent purpose foundation that holds no economic stake but permanently blocks two actions: selling the company for owners' personal gain, and extracting profits as dividends or capital gains. Founders keep full operational control; the lock
Berlin, Germany
SuccessEcosia GmbH (founder Christian Kroll, with the Purpose Foundation) · since 2018 · Global
In October 2018 Ecosia GmbH (Berlin, founded 2009) adopted steward-ownership via the veto-share ('golden share') model, with the Purpose Foundation as the independent holder of approximately 1% of shares. The founders p…
Veto share held by independent Purpose Foundation0% (founder-owned) → ~1% veto share; founders' right to sell or extract profit permanently removed
Share of profits directed to tree-plantingat least 80% (≈100% of profit to climate action overall)% of profit
Self-funded from search advertising revenue (ad-click share via Bing/Microsoft and Google); no external equity investors · 2 sources