China’s biggest telecoms equipment provider Huawei has said a trade union that holds a majority stake in the company is merely a legal convenience and the group is really controlled by its employees.
In a press conference on Thursday responding to speculation about Chinese government control of the group, which the US has accused of spying, Huawei said about half of its 180,000-odd employees own “virtual shares” that pay dividends and give them voting rights at company-wide elections.
But because Chinese laws restrict the number of shareholders in a business, Huawei’s holding company uses a structure that places 99 per cent of its shares under the control of a “Trade Union Committee” rather than the employees themselves.