The Logbook: The story of the publicly traded man

The recent report on Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie’s plan to tokenize his player contract in return for an upfront lump payment — effectively selling shares of himself — reminds me of Mike Merrill, the entrepreneur who sold 100,000 shares of himself in early 2008.

On Jan. 26, 2008, then-30 year-old Mike Merrill divided himself into 100,000 shares and initiated an Initial Public Offering — setting a price at $1 per share. With the initial ~$1,000 he raised from his first shareholders (mostly friends and acquaintances), Merrill hired a small team to build a website to trade his shares.