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Comment by fspeech | Hacker News Reader

Yahoo owned (before the spin off) a much larger stake in Alibaba both on a relative and an absolute basis than Tencent in Snapchat. And Alibaba is a much larger business with a dominant position.

Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are all largely owned by foreign investors, even though they are operated by Chinese personnel.

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I wasn't aware they were mostly owned by outside investors. Even if that's true, they are participating in chinese govt mandated suppression and blocking expression. I understand thats just the way things work in China, but you can't allow people working under that basis to control important means of free expression in the US.

That is because they are traded on foreign exchanges. Though ownership doesn’t really convey much control in this sense given the voting rights public share classes (mostly to conform with Chinese laws). They are still chinese companies even if they have foreign share holders.

Can you elaborate on the ownership structure of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent?

Tencent, surprisingly, is 33% owned by the South African company Naspers, as well as 7% other foreign institutional investors. Alibaba is 30% owned by the Japanese Softbank and 15% owned by a US holding company resultant of Yahoo's sale. [2] Baidu is 35%+ held by a hodgepodge of funds and holding companies. [3]

[1] http://www.4-traders.com/TENCENT-HOLDINGS-LTD-3045861/compan...

[2] http://www.4-traders.com/ALIBABA-GROUP-HOLDING-17916677/comp...

[3] http://investors.morningstar.com/ownership/shareholders-majo...

Adding up your numbers:

Tencent: 40% foreign owned Alibaba: 45% foreign owned Baidu: 35% foreign owned

None of those are majority or controlling stakes. Which is hardly the...

> Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are all largely owned by foreign investors, even though they are operated by Chinese personnel.

...of the ancestor comment.

China has long welcomed foreign investment while simultaneously rejecting foreign control.

Baidu and Alibaba are both listed in the U.S. I am not aware of Baidu but Softbank and Yahoo used to own the majority economic stake in Alibaba. Tencent is listed in Hongkong but a large stake is owned by a South African investor.

Both Baidu and Ali Baba are listed in the US in the form of depository receipts. You're not going to see any non-Chinese investor exert any meaningful influence over either of those companies as a result.

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