A JV between Expedia, a Dow Component, and the Qataris? (new idea)

Also some private equity folks

When and how does a stock’s share register matter for valuation of a company?

In theory it shouldn’t matter- the value of the business is the discounted present value of future cash yada yada yada. In practice it matters for for two key situations that I’ve looked at:

1.) Controlled company— the big obvious one. Minority shareholders are supposed to be protected from majority shareholders by the courts. The problem here is that it is not a crime against minority shareholders to be stupid or a poor allocator. So you get years of misallocation of capital and disappointment and there’s not that much that can be done. Can also be a bidder for the company as what happened with Ubiquiti or Dell.

2.) Strategic ownership- i.e. a big customer/supplier owns a chunk of the equity, and thus has alignment with the business. This also cuts the other way— famously, McLane sold itself to Berkshire Hathaway because it was owned by Walmart. Walmart’s competitors shut it out, and when it separated it was able to win business from others.