[carlob]

ENEL has been privatized a long time ago and the Italian government has just a plurality stake.

[permo-w]

just a plurality?

wouldn’t a plurality make them the controlling shareholder?

[kosievdmerwe]

Plurality means largest stake, but that stake is less than 50%.

So it means that they have a lot of say, but they can be overridden if every other shareholder disagrees.

[permo-w]

isn’t the controlling shareholder generally the shareholder with the largest portion?

[kosievdmerwe]

AFAIK controlling shareholder means that the shareholder has more than 50% of the voting power. They or the group they belong to have unilateral control of the company barring some restrictions.

Though looking at this a large but not 50%+ stake can also be "controlling": https://www.upcounsel.com/controlling-shareholder

But controlling looks to more about how much voting power and influence you have rather than how many shares, because remember companies can have different classes of shares.