People Pay To Vote On Entrepreneur Mike Merrill's Life

It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a group of 160 shareholders to raise one Portland man. For five years, entrepreneur Mike Merrill has been selling shares of himself, and then allowing those shareholders to vote on important business and personal decisions in his life. As a result of various shareholder votes, Merrill is now a mostly-pescetarian with a rigorous workout regime, and a registered Republican who only wears Brooks Brothers. His stock price is on the up.

Merrill, 35, owns a majority of shares, which are non-voting until he sells them in a bi-annual auction. It's difficult to tell how much Merrill's made, but shares are currently trading at $12.90, from an early-stage low of 20 cents.He claims to use the money for "the facilitation of projects and operational expenses," like his website KmikeyM.com, which keeps a live tracker of his stock price, and invites stockholders to vote on everything from whether he should wear Nike sneakers (yes) or get a vasectomy (no -- by one vote).