Huawei’s staff own 98.58% of the company’s stock and CEO Ren Zhengfei holds 1.42%, a Chinese newspaper has reported.
Quoting an un-named source, the Beijing Timessays the company’s yet-to-be-released corporate social responsibility (CSR) report reveals that Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd is wholly-owned by Shenzhen Huawei Investment Holdings Ltd.
Huawei staff hold their company stakes through Shenzhen Huawei under a company employee share ownership scheme operated by the company union. Huawei has 95,000 workers, of which 61,457 own shares in the company, the report said.
Huawei executives have long acknowledged the employee share scheme, which they have described as an important means of raising funds for the privately-held company.
However, the Shenzhen-based firm has never disclosed details of its shareholders, describing itself as “employee-owned.”
The company, co-founded by Ren and other ex-army officers 23 years ago, has encountered suspicion in the US and other foreign markets because of its alleged links to the PLA and the Chinese government.
Huawei and other Chinese vendors last week overcame a ban on the sale of their equipment to Indian carriers on the condition that the gear undergoes strict security checks.
The Indian government has banned the deployment of Chinese-made network equipment in sensitive border areas.