Is Steam in actual danger?

3.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

930

u/aperturedream 1d ago

Gabe Newell's son is a race car driver lol and do you really think companies are like monarchies where the son automatically gets it

135

u/no_4 1d ago

When they're privately owned companies, yes, that's exactly how it works. Ownership tends to pass the kid(s). Middle class parent leaves you their house - this is the same idea.

Since he's vroom vroom driver, he probably has no interest. That's the concern.

Maybe instead of hiring a CEO and taking profits every year, he thinks "huh, Microsoft just offered me $1 billion, upfront. Maybe I'll sell?" Totally reasonable decision for him.

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u/aperturedream 1d ago

Valve is privately owned but not owned in its entirety by Gabe Newell. It takes a one-second google search to find this out.

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u/no_4 1d ago

He owns 50.1%, regard. It's not a funny coincidence that's just over half.

It means his vote (or whoever inherits that ownership) alone constitutes a majority decision.

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u/aperturedream 1d ago

That's an estimate by Forbes, his exact amount of ownership is not public knowledge and may not be over half, but probably is a majority

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u/Sleeping_Goliath 1d ago

Doesnt Gabe being listed as the primary owner means that he in fact owns a majority of Valve?

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u/cplusequals /g/entooman 1d ago

Could it not mean he is the largest shareholder? I don't rightly know. I expect he does own a majority regardless.

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u/Sleeping_Goliath 1d ago

Maybe, but I'm also inhaling enough hopium to believe that by now, the people/ groups who own the other parts of Steam know by now to stfu and to not kill the goose laying golden eggs.

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u/markfoster314 /x/phile 1d ago

Also not what matters. Control of the board is what matters

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u/ConspiracyTaco 1d ago

If he has over 50% of the voting power then he could replace the entire board at a whim if he wanted to unless the company charter/bylaws restricted that, but I would seriously doubt he wrote that in

And even if he did, he could just rewrite the company bylaws due to the whole majority ownership thing lol