Bloomberg dissects how AI startups raise big while founders keep control

In his June 16, 2026 newsletter "AI Builds Some Pyramids," Bloomberg Opinion's Matt Levine examined the structures that let AI startups raise enormous sums while their founders cede as little control as possible to investors — likening the arrangement to a pyramid. Levine framed the de facto twin goals of an AI founder as raising as much money from investors as possible and giving those investors as little control as possible. Because economic ownership and voting control have traditionally moved together, large raises risk surrendering majority stakes — yet a growing set of special share and holding structures sidesteps that, he argued. Bloomberg Opinion