An equity interest in either a public company or a privately-held company that by itself is one which carries sufficient votes to be able to elect all (or at least a majority) of the members of the Board of Directors and, through them, to govern the company's business. A controlling interest can be comprised of either the outstanding voting shares that collectively represent more that 50% of the outstanding votes (de jure control) or, in some circumstances 50% or less of the outstanding votes (de facto control).

Direct or indirect ownership of voting shares sufficient to elect the majority of the board of directors of a corporation.

ownership of more than 50 percent of a company's voting shares.

Controlling interest in a corporation means to have control of a large enough block of voting stock shares in a company such that no one stock holder or coalition of stock holders can successfully oppose a motion. In theory this normally means that controlling interest would be 50% of the voting shares plus one.