Do shareholders know that The Walt Disney Company is engaged in a joint venture with the Chinese Communist Party that allows for the operation of the Shanghai Disney Resort? And it's not an equal split, by the way. Instead, the CCP has 57% ownership while Disney holds only 43% ownership.

No, China does not own The Walt Disney Company. Disney is a publicly traded American corporation headquartered in Burbank, California, and its ownership is spread across hundreds of thousands of individual and institutional shareholders (the largest being firms like Vanguard and BlackRock). The misconception likely stems from Disney's specific joint ventures within China. For example, Shanghai Disneyland is 57% owned by the Shanghai Shendi Group (a consortium of state-owned enterprises) and 43% by Disney. Similarly, Hong Kong Disneyland is 52% owned by the Hong Kong government and 48% by Disney. These arrangements are a requirement of the Chinese government for foreign companies to build large-scale infrastructure projects in the country. While China has significant leverage over which Disney films are released in their massive theatrical market, they do not hold a direct ownership stake or a controlling interest in the parent Walt Disney Company itself.