In summary, when ultimate owners effectively control their firms, their voting rights levels are negatively related to the informativeness of the firms’ reported earnings. This suggests that the information effect dominates the incentive alignment effect. We also find evidence supporting our hypothesis that after controlling for the level of voting rights, cash-vote divergence significantly weakens earnings informativeness. This evidence is consistent with the entrenchment effect. However, the result is also consistent with the information effect, provided that controlling owners tend to employ pyramidal or cross-holding ownership structures to protect the information about their rent-seeking activities.