, Columnist
China’s Golden Shares Trade Visibility for Stability
With a minder on the board, companies won’t have much room to make any mistakes that could anger Beijing.
Silver lining of golden shares.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
After three years of regulatory enforcement actions aimed at curtailing China’s biggest technology companies, Beijing appears to be shifting to a new strategy — one that could make the future more stable but also increasingly murky.
State-owned entities are set to take 1% stakes in companies including affiliates of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., a token amount that will include a board seat and veto power over some decisions. Called a “golden share,” this structure has already been implemented at ByteDance Ltd. and Weibo Corp.