Shareholder

Part of the series on

Corporations

Corporate Players

Board of Directors Officers Shareholders

Business Forms

Sole Proprietorship Partnership Closely-Held Corp. Corporation

Economic Concepts

Agency Cost Mergers & Acquisitions Transaction Cost Horizontal Integration Vertical Integration

A shareholder is an individual who owns stock in a corporation, either publicly traded ("secondary trading") or privately held. In general, the term refers to the public trading of corporate stock. A shareholder, in the corporate model, contributes capital to the operation of the business, and the officers run the corporation, using this stock. In the "economic model" of the corporation, the shareholder has the unique function of bearing risk, although the shareholder also exercises partial control through the Board of Directors.