A Golden Share is a nominal share, held by a government organization, in a government company undergoing the process of privatization and transformation into a stock-company. Privatization (sometimes privatisation, denationalization, or, especially in India, disinvestment) is the process of transferring property from public ownership to private ownership and/or transferring the management of a service or activity from the government to the private sector. ...

This share gives the government organization the right of decisive vote, thus to veto all other shares, in a shareholders-meeting. Usually this will be implemented through clauses in a company's Articles of Association, and will be designed to prevent stakebuilding above a certain percentage ownership level, or to give a government veto powers over any major corporate action (such as the sale of a major asset or subsidiary or of the company as a whole). Articles of Association are a requirement for the establishment of a company under United Kingdom company law. ...

This share is often retained only for some defined period of time to allow a newly privatised company to become accustomed to operating in a public environment, unless ownership of the organization concerned is deemed to be of ongoing importance to national interests (e.g. for reasons of national security).

The term arose in the 1980s when the British government retained golden shares in companies it privatised, and later in many other European countries. The United Kingdom is a unitary state and a democratic constitutional monarchy. ...

It was introduced in Russia ( Zolotaya Aktsiya, "Золотая Акция" in Russian) by a law initiated by the President in November 16, 1992. November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

In 2003 the UK government's golden share in BAA, the UK airports authority, was ruled illegal by European courts, deemed contradictory to the principle of free circulation of capital within European Union. But taking in account the implications of this decision especially the transitional state in countries which are candidates to join the Union it allowed provisions to use Golden Shares in strategically important areas. BAA plc (LSE: BAA) is the owner and operator of seven major United Kingdom airports and operator of several airports worldwide, making the company one of the largest transport companies in the world. ...

Other golden shares ruled illegal include the Spanish government's golden shares in Telefonica, Repsol YPF, Endesa, Argentaria and Tabacalera. Telefónica S.A. (NYSE: TEF) (TYO: 9481) is the national telephone network operator (telco) in Spain. ... Repsol YPF is an integrated oil and gas company with operations in 29 countries, principally Spain and Argentina. ... Endesa, S.A. (NYSE: ELE) is the largest electric utility company in Spain. ... Tabacalera is a Spanish cigarette producer. ...