Who Owns Dominion Voting Systems? Fox to Pay Company Millions

Claims of voter fraud are spiraling throughout most of the U.S. population. In 2020, a Facebook group called "Stop the Count”' reached 365,000 members before the platform shut it down. The users then took their concerns over to Parler, which is known for being a "free speech social media site.” Whether they like it or not, Dominion Voting Systems is in the middle of the issues with the election system.

So, who owns Dominion Voting Systems?

Dominion Voting has been a company of interest for years, though many are now focusing on it for the recent settlement it reached in the defamation case involving Fox News.

Keep reading to find out who owns Dominion Voting and who founded the company. See how much Dominion Voting’s net worth will increase after Fox News satisfies the settlement it agreed to pay.

Founded in 2002, Dominion is privately held and backed by private equity. The company was acquired by Staple Street Capital (as well as its own management team) in July 2018.

In June 2010, Dominion acquired Sequoia Voting Systems.

There are three main voting software companies used in U.S. elections — Election Systems & Software (ES&S), Hart InterCivic, and Dominion Voting Systems.

Dominion started out as a Canadian company. Now, the company is based in Denver and proudly proclaims its American status. In response to the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump said that voting systems in the U.S. are prone to fraud — specifically from Democrats. Largely right-wing voters still echo these claims. They think that Dominion lacks security, which ultimately leads to fraudulent election results.

On Nov. 7, 2020, Dominion released a statement saying, "There are no credible reports or evidence of any system software errors in Georgia or Michigan." Trump's legal team had targeted these two states, but officials in both states said that there isn't ground to stand on.

Some voters also said that Dominion performed last-minute software updates and experienced issues with Sharpie pens being used on handwritten ballots. The election software company said that both of these claims are completely false.

While the full board of directors for Dominion isn't publicly available, we do know someone who sit on the board for Staple Street Capital. It's a former presidential ambassador who operated under the Obama administration. This isn't abnormal for funding firms, but it's often been used as a point of contention for opponents of the Democrat party.

John Poulos is one of two founders of the Dominion election software company (the other being James Hoover). Poulos still serves as the company's CEO.

Poulos has an international education. His B.S. is in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, while his MBA is from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Having acquired Dominion in 2018, Staple Street Capital has lots of other investments under its belt. The middle-market private equity firm has its hand in Cyberlink, Six Flags, Eastern Dental Management, Ivy Technology, and more.

Parler is a right-wing playground that doesn't have any chaperones. It's home to once-loyal Fox News watchers who now denounce the station for officially stating that Joe Biden was president-elect. The Parler app is home to people amplifying criticisms of Dominion Voting Systems and other election software used throughout the U.S.

Parler is a privately held company, so you have to be a preferred or institutional investor to go all-in on the platform. If you really want to take the leap, you can join an angel investor organization or investment group. Just know that there's a significant risk when a company isn't required to report all of its financial information and isn't held to the SEC's standards.

Dominion filed a $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News claiming the media outlet promoted lies tying the voter software company to the supposed "rigged" 2020 presidential election. Just as the two were headed to court in April 2023, Fox diverted the case from going to trial by offering to settle. Fox News has agreed to pay Dominion $787 million, much less what the company was initially seeking.

In edition to securing a favorable outcome, Dominion was also able to extract an "admission from Fox News, which acknowledged in a statement that “certain claims” it made about Dominion were false," The New York Times reported.