Original: As Wales is also a member of the global founder group since February 27, 2009 (Jimmy Wales was a steward before), he has the ability to change the user rights of any editor on any Wikimedia wiki from meta:Special:UserRights, making the local 'founder' group largely a status symbol.
Simplified: As Wales is also a steward on Meta, he has the ability to change the user rights of any editor on any wikimedia wiki from meta:Special:UserRights, making the 'founder' group largely a status symbol.