Abstract: Innovation is crucial to the long-term development of both nations and enterprise. To reduce the loss of high-quality domestic companies, prevent malicious foreign acquisitions, and enrich invest- ment methods in the capital market, China has allowed companies to adopt a dual-class share structure for listing. By analyzing the innovation performance of UCloud, the first company in China to adopt this structure, this study explores the impact of dual-class share structures on corporate innovation perform- ance. The research conclusions are as follows: 1 ) dual-class share structures have a dual nature; 2) such structures can help promote R&D investment in high-tech enterprises; 3) sunset clauses within du- al-class share structures can significantly enhance corporate innovation performance. Based on these find- ings, this paper recommends that the government establish and improve regulatory mechanisms, enhance market access supervision for dual-class share companies, and encourage enterprises to implement effec- tive equity incentives and set reasonable sunset clauses to improve the innovation performance of high- tech enterprises.

Key words: dual-class shares, innovation performance, control rights