• RebekahWSD@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    I’ve never quite understood, is a shareholder just someone with stock in a company or is it a level above that?

    If it’s just stocks I theoretically own a few in Disney somewhere. It was a gift for being born.

    • someguy3@lemmy.world
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      15 minutes ago

      Yes, owns stocks. But you can say there’s another tier. If you own say 10% of a company’s stock you may actually get to influence how the company runs. That is called the board of directors. They decide what path the company goes down, the CEO, etc. (It’s the shareholders that decide, but your 1 millionth voting power isn’t doing anything when your local billionaire has a billion dollars more stock than you.)

    • village604@adultswim.fan
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      1 hour ago

      Yes, a shareholder is someone who owns part of the company, which is what stocks/shares are.

      There are different stock types, though. Common stock is what everyone thinks of when they hear stocks/shared. You own a portion of the company and can vote on stuff, and maybe get some dividends.

      Then there are preferred stocks which are basically a hybrid stock/bond with a fixed regular dividend. They also get first claim to the company assets if it goes under, but they usually don’t have voting rights. Then there are subtypes of preferred stocks.

    • nibbler@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 hours ago

      If you hold a share, you hold a share. makes you a share holder imho.

      also: congrats on being born from me, too!