China Seeks Small Stakes in, and More Sway Over, Online Firms<br />Two small companies — a military news site called Tiexue<br />and a news aggregator called Zaker — have recently offered stakes to affiliates of the Chinese government or the Communist Party, according to company documents and official media.<br />" he said, "that model is no longer comfortable for the authorities." The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, reported this week<br />that Chinese internet regulators have discussed taking 1 percent stakes in Tencent Holdings, maker of the popular WeChat messaging service, and Youku Tudou, a video platform owned by the Alibaba Group, the e-commerce giant. that As these companies have grown both in size and influence,<br />The article described the deal as a "trial" of the special management share structure, though it did<br />not state how or whether Shenzhen Press Group would influence Zaker’s management and news content.<br />The Chinese authorities traditionally have issued guidelines<br />and outright orders to major internet companies about what they would like to see and not see online, said Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, a tech advisory firm in Beijing.<br />Experts said that if the deals work, the authorities could eventually ask for stakes at some of the country’s largest<br />and most innovative companies in order to solidify influence over their services.<br />According to government statistics, more than four-fifths of China’s more than 730 million internet users obtained some news online last year.
