Golden share

In business and finance, a golden share is a type of share of stock that lets its owner outvote all other shareholders in certain circumstances. Golden shares often belong to the government when a government-owned company is undergoing the process of privatization and transformation into a stock company.

Purpose

This share gives the government organization, or other shareholder, the right of decisive vote in a shareholder meeting. Usually this will be implemented through clauses in a company's articles of association, and will be designed to prevent stake-building above a certain percentage ownership level, or to give a government, or other shareholder, veto powers over any major corporate action, such as the sale of a major asset or subsidiary or of the company as a whole.[1]

In the context of government-owned golden shares, this share is usually reserved for companies whose business is deemed to be of ongoing importance to national interests, for example for reasons of national security.[1]

History

The term arose in the 1980s when the British government retained golden shares in companies it privatised, an approach later taken in many other European countries, as well as the former Soviet Union. It was introduced in Russia by a Decree of the President of the Russian Federation (Boris Yeltsin) on November 16, 1992.[2]

As of 2014, NATS Holdings, the UK's main air navigation service provider, is an example of a company with a golden share.[3]

The government of Brazil has been holding a golden share in aircraft manufacturer Embraer[4] to retain veto power over "strategic decisions involving military programs and any change in its controlling interest."[5][6]

The June 2025 acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel involved the use of a golden share, giving the US federal government extensive control over the company.[7][8] In January of that year, President Joe Biden had blocked the deal, citing national security concerns.[9][10] The president of the United Steelworkers union called the golden share "a startling degree of personal power over a corporation".[11]