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Shareholders

A shareholder is one who owns an equitable interest in a for-profit corporation. A shareholder does not own legal title to the property of the corporation but owns stock or shares in the corporation. Shareholders or stockholders are the owners of the shares or stock of a corporation that confer the rights to control the company and to receive residual revenues or profits.

Types of Shareholders

In a close corporation, or family-owned and privately held company, a small number of shareholders own equitable interests in the corporation and often also manage the enterprise. State laws not only permit greater flexibility in the operations of close corporations than to the operations of the traditional publicly held corporation but also impose greater controls on the transfer of shares to ...

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