A shareholder is someone who has shares in a company.
Shareholder is a person who owns one or more shares in a company . Shareholders are also often called investors , since purchasing a share represents an investment (a capital outlay) in the company.
In this sense, it is important that we also make clear what an action is. Thus, we can establish that it is each of the proportional parts into which the capital of a public limited company is divided, whether it is commercial or industrial.
For this same reason, a shareholder is a capitalist partner who is involved in the management of the company. Your responsibility and decision-making power depends on the percentage of capital you contribute to it (the more shares, the more votes).
Types of shareholder
It is also important to establish that there are two clearly differentiated types of shareholders. In this way, first of all, we find the so-called reference shareholders , who are those who are characterized by having a significant number of shares, which is what determines and makes it clear that they intervene and influence the management of the company. the company itself.
Secondly, there are the so-called minority shareholders . As their name indicates, they have few shares and, therefore, have no capacity to influence the direction and management of the aforementioned company. However, it may happen that an "association" of several of these types of shareholders is created and thus acquires weight that allows them to act in said management.
It should be noted that a shareholder can be both a natural person and a legal entity . This means that a group of individuals can band together to buy a stake in a company .
Buying shares is an investment.
Share classes
In addition to all of the above, we cannot forget that there are various types of actions. Thus, among the most frequent would be the deliberate ones, which are also known as bonus shares ; privileged or preferred shares ; those without vote ; those of gold or golden share ; the new ones; and the salvageable ones.
Shares: all those that are acquired by investors based on their needs or objectives and that, as a consequence of their reason for existence, will allow them to obtain certain rights or others.
Shareholder management power
In the cases of public limited companies, not all shareholders have management power. A public limited company can have thousands of shareholders, whose interest is limited to obtaining financial compensation in exchange for investments. These shareholders, for example, can buy shares at one dollar per share and expect the company to pay them a dividend on the amount.
Therefore, by purchasing shares of a firm, a shareholder can acquire economic rights or political rights . Among the economic rights, there is the right to receive a dividend according to the participation, to receive a percentage of the value of the company in the event that it is liquidated and to sell the shares freely in the market .
Political or management rights are linked to votes and access to the information necessary to understand business management.