The record
Squarespace, Inc. filed a Form S-1 registration statement on April 16, 2021 to register shares for its direct listing; the source hint for this note anticipated a Form 10, but the operative filing on EDGAR is a Form S-1, and this entry describes that document. The S-1 discloses a three-class share structure: Class A common stock carries one vote per share, Class B carries ten votes per share, and Class C carries no votes. The filing's beneficial-ownership table shows founder and CEO Anthony Casalena holding 49,086,410 shares of Class B common stock, 75.7% of that class, and no disclosed Class A holdings beyond a rounding threshold, together representing 68.2% of Squarespace's total voting power. All executive officers and directors as a group held 71.3% of total voting power.
What the documents establish
The S-1 is Squarespace's own disclosure of its voting mechanics and Casalena's resulting control; it states plainly, in its risk factors, that this structure lets him "control the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders." A final amendment, the S-1/A filed May 3, 2021, restates the identical 49,086,410-share, 68.2%-voting-power figures as of the same March 31, 2021 record date, confirming the disclosure was unchanged through the filing closest to listing. Neither document explains why Squarespace chose a direct listing rather than an underwritten IPO; that choice is described only as a structural fact of the offering, not reasoned through in the risk factors.
The operating read
A direct listing that preserves founder supervoting control, as Squarespace's did, is a different governance signal than a direct listing that does not, since the two features are independent design choices a company makes at the same filing. Editorially, a reader should note that Squarespace's 2024 agreement to be acquired and taken private is a separate, later corporate event not addressed by this S-1, and any voting-control analysis drawn from the 2021 filing should not be extended to describe that later transaction, which this note does not cover.
What to check before you decide
Before treating a direct listing's governance structure as a template, check the following.
- Does the registration statement disclose a multi-class structure, and if so, how many classes and what voting ratio?
- What percentage of total voting power does the founder or leadership group hold as of the filing's stated record date?
- Has a later transaction, such as an acquisition or take-private deal, changed the company's ownership structure since the filing?
Squarespace's S-1 documents a specific, dated allocation of voting power; it is a record of that moment, not a statement about the company's later corporate history.
Sources & their limits
These are the existing record’s sources and retrieval dates, preserved from the archive. Source statements, historical events and editorial interpretation are distinct.
- Squarespace, Inc. Form S-1 Registration Statement
Discloses the Class A/B/C voting structure and Anthony Casalena's beneficial ownership and voting power as of the filing's record date.
- Squarespace, Inc. Form S-1/A
Restates the identical share counts and 68.2% total-voting-power figure as of March 31, 2021, confirming the disclosure at the amendment closest to listing.