What does Mark Zuckerberg have that Elon Musk doesn't?

Elon Musk (left) and Mark Zuckerberg gesture during separate gatherings. — AFP/File

Elon Musk owns multi-billion businesses with thousands of people following him but he lacks one thing that some of his colleagues especially Mark Zuckerberg in the tech sector do not and that is greater power.

Last week, Musk publicly threatened to continue working on artificial intelligence technology elsewhere unless the Tesla board increased his ownership position to 25%, giving him even more power over the business, according to Yahoo.

The world's richest man, Elon Musk, was keen to clarify that this had nothing to do with money. Instead, he was advocating for increased authority over decisions. He even proposed the notion of obtaining a different class of shares that would give him more voting power without reducing the value of the company's current shares or requiring it to pay out billions of dollars in further remuneration.

Musk's frequent opponent, CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, has power over his company through super-voting shares, which is part of the dual-class share plan. 

Musk seems to be vying for Zuckerberg's possessions. However, an examination of the structure highlights the boundaries of unbridled presidential power as well as the problematic aspects of establishing uneven voting rights.

In the past, businesses have employed dual-class structures to prevent corruption in some industries, such as the so-called vice industries like alcohol and tobacco, and in cases where families fought for control over the legacy over the whims of the short term, most notably in publicly traded newspapers like the New York Times.