Selected Press

How I became the world’s first publicly traded person (video)
by Mike Merrill for TEDxVienna

Meet the Man Who Sold His Fate to Investors at $1 a Share
by Joshua Davis for WIRED

One-man IPO: Man sells shares in his own life (video)
on the TODAY Show

How One Man Turned Himself Into a Publicly Owned Company
by Rob Walker for The Atlantic

The Publicly Traded Human Goes NSFW
by Leah Sottile for Playboy

Meet the man selling influence over his personal life decisions (video)
on VICE

Jason Bateman Is ‘IPO Man’; He’ll Direct, Star As Man Who Sold Stock In Himself
by Mike Fleming Jr in Deadline

Amazon to Develop Human IPO Series With Matt Tolmach Producing
by Jow Otterson for Variety

The World’s First Publicly Traded Person
by David Brancaccio and Rose Conlon for Marketplace

The Sudden Rise of the Ethereum-based ‘Social Token’
by Robert Stevens for Decrypt

Index

The New Corporation: How “Good” Corporations Are Bad for Democracy by Joel Bakan

“When Mike Merrill became the world’s first (and only, as far as I know) publicly traded person, it was because, he told me, “I love the culture of business, I love a boardroom, I love a conference call, I love a whiteboard.”

$14.39 on Amazon

Facing Our Futures: How foresight, futures design and strategy creates prosperity and growth by Nikolas Badminton

“Talks on the quantified self, synaesthesia through application and data layers, and turning yourself into the world’s first publicly traded person (shout out to KmikeyM, who keeps going with that).”

$11.71 on Amazon

American Dreamers: Optimists, Mavericks, and Mad Inventors Share Their Dreams For Brighter Futures by Various Authors

K. Michael Merrill is the world’s only publicly traded person. He works on projects in various forms with many people, all guided by the gentle hand of his shareholders who have invested their money and time to add accountability and expertise.

$3.98 on Amazon

Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot Hardcover by Julian Dibbell

I feel like I am above the players of these games,” Merrill told Wired News the other day. “They are toiling and investing hours and hours into creating
wealth and building empires and here I am, no virtual avatar running around and no virtual real estate, just skimming money off the top.” Must commerce always alienate? Is it by definition the opposite of lived community?

$13.57 on Amazon