Facebook And Monsanto Are Basically Owned By The Same People

Or should we say corporations… 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.

(Note: If you consult open listings (for example, investors.morningstar.com), you can look at the major shareholders of these two publicly traded companies, Monsanto and Facebook).

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.

And of course, in case a company decides to take a controversial stance on a political issue, or introduce a new product that would disrupt the foundations of the economic status quo, the investment funds can exert punishment:

Suddenly selling off millions of shares and avoiding the company like poison would have a severely negative effect.

As long as these companies proceed with business as usual, there's really nothing to notice. The system hums in its normal way. And that's the whole point. Don't rock the boat.

Facebook operating as a consumer self-spying machine, laying out people's personal details? Monsanto taking over the food supply with its dangerous and toxic GMO-pesticide technology?

No problem.

And don't forget that Facebook deleted the March Against Monsanto's main event at Monsanto headquarters back in August, now we see why.

That's business as usual. And the same top investment funds will continue to hold millions of shares in both companies. Because both companies are part of the same overall system.

That's “normal.”

You have a company that intends to launch a new cheap energy technology that would revolutionize the planet? Or a natural plant-based treatment for cancer that actually works, with no devastating adverse effects? And you're going to go public and look for vital and necessary support from investment funds?

That's a whole other issue. That's definitely not normal. Watch out. You've got torpedoes heading your way.