China’s Online Giants Back $12 Billion Deal to Shake Up State Firm
ByHONG KONG — Some of China’s biggest technology players are backing a plan to invest nearly $12 billion in one of the country’s telecommunications giants, the latest move in a broader government push to shake up the country’s bloated state-run companies.
But it is an effort that, so far, has left experts unimpressed.
The telecom giant, China Unicom, said on Wednesday that its parent company would raise $11.7 billion by selling shares to a number of Chinese firms as well as to employees. All together, the outside companies would have roughly a one-third share in the Unicom group. China Unicom said the funds would be used to help pay for development of a next-generation cellular and data network, among other uses. It also “expects to further optimize its corporate governance structure in accordance with the market-oriented principles,” it said in a filing…
China’s Online Giants Back $12 Billion Deal to Shake Up State Firm
