China Takes ‘Golden Shares’ in Alibaba, Tencent in Push to Control Tech Sector

Text size

E-commerce giants

Alibaba

and Tencent climbed on Friday despite reports the Chinese government is working to take so-called ‘golden shares’ in units of both companies. 

The plan could represent an alternative to the regulatory crackdown that has hit Chinese technology stocks hard in recent years and included fines for Alibaba and Tencent over failures to comply with disclosure laws. 

Alibaba and Tencent shares both closed up 2% in Hong Kong early on Friday. The Hang Seng Tech Index closed up 1.5%. 

American depositary receipts of Alibaba were up 1.8% in premarket trading on Friday.

State-run investment funds have taken 1% stakes in two local Alibaba subsidiaries and appointed a board member to one of the units, Reuters reported, citing business-registration records. The Chinese government is also looking at taking a stake in one of Tencent’s main China operating subsidiaries, the Financial Times reported, citing people at the company briefed on the matter. 

Tencent declined to comment on the report. Alibaba did not reply to a Barron’s request for comment early on the day.

Chinese authorities have previously taken similar stakes in companies such as TikTok owner ByteDance and microblogging platform operator

Weibo
,
allowing them to exert greater influence over content at social-media and news platforms. 

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com