Ownership structures and sustainability in big tech firms

In this paper, we examine the association between institutional ownership, common ownership, ownership concentration and ESG performance among major publicly traded technology firms. Using a panel of 14 large technology companies over the period 2004–2025, we combine ESG, ownership, and financial data to investigate whether sustainability outcomes are associated with ownership by the largest institutional investors, ownership concentration, and common ownership structures. We find that ownership by the Big Three asset managers is unrelated to ESG performance once firm and year fixed effects are included. However, broader ownership by the largest institutional investors, measured using a Big Four ownership variable, is positively associated with ESG outcomes across multiple specifications. We also find that ownership concentration and common ownership exhibit negative associations with several ESG measures, particularly environmental and emissions-related outcomes. The findings indicate that ownership identity and ownership structure represent distinct governance channels with different implications for sustainability outcomes.