When we act and buy alone, we are called “consumer victims.” 20th century business models have taken advantage of us. In the 21st century, consumer victims will embrace new opportunities to become “empowered customers.” These customers will reap automatic value every time they shop. They are empowered because they become automatic owners, thanks to Product Equity Value© or PEV©.

Imagine purchasing a solar battery for $30 and receiving shares in the solar battery company worth $330 – shares that could either be sold or earn dividends for you.

This is possible if the owner of the solar battery company gave away 70% ownership equity to the company’s customers. But why would an owner relinquish 70% equity? The reason is the owner’s 30% stake in a publicly traded company is more valuable than a 100% stake in a privately-held company.

Let’s say a public company XYZ Batteries has a $1 product, 14 million customers and $4 million in expenses. Subtract the company’s expenses ($4M) from revenue ($14M) to get $10 million in earnings. Then divide the earnings by the rate of return that the stock marketplace is seeking. If the market is looking for a 2% rate of return, then the market value of XYZ Batteries Inc. becomes $500 million (which is 10,000,000 divided by 0.02).

Then divide the market value by number of shares to get the stock price of XYZ Batteries. Let’s say XYZ Batteries plans to issue 40 million shares. Then stock price becomes $12.5 per share. XYZ Batteries sets aside 28 million shares for 14 million customers. Each customer will receive 2 free shares in XYZ Batteries stock just for purchasing its $1 product.

The customer just spent $1 and received $25 in Product Equity Value©. In this example the PEV© ratio is 25. The ratio could be higher or lower in other examples, depending on pricing, expenses and other variables. But the essential point is the customer benefits from owning free stock. The empowered customer has more options: he could sell his shares at a profit or keep them for dividend earnings income. Add up these options 364 times.

With PEV©, our 364 public companies will be designed from scratch to favor its customers – the 14 million partners of B2BVP. Here is the dawn of a new paradigm after a night of global economic crisis, declining financial value and debt entrapment. Yesterday’s consumer victim becomes today’s customer-partner, empowered with 364 golden geese and lots of golden eggs.