Power Corporation: Generational Disruption

If you’re going to be disrupted by a technological innovation, you might as well do it to yourself

Having covered the Soares Dos Santos family’s dominance in Portugal through Jeronimo Martins, I wanted to bring it local to look at a Canadian power family. A company two Canadian prime ministers (Paul Martin and Brian Mulroney) worked at early in their careers. It’s Power Corporation (POW) and the controlling Desmarais family. 

The reason I got interested in POW was not because of the media-shy Desmarais family. It was piqued when I met folks at Portag3 Ventures, a venture capital company in Canada. What stuck with me was a whispered passing comment that their capital came from a family-owned corporation. 

The people at the fund spoke as if I should’ve known this. As if the name Desmarais was as common knowledge as Santa Claus. I imagined my west-coast-immigrant ignorance shined brightly through my clueless face. 

Then I learned that Wealthsimple was owned by POW as well. Wealthsimple became the second-highest valued startup in Canada after their 2021 funding round valued it at ~$4b U…