shareholder
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of shareholder
Explanation
A shareholder is someone who holds stock in a company. Shareholders partially own a company and can make more money when it does well. When you share, you're using or enjoying something with others. Similarly, shareholders own shares — also known as stocks — in a company, so the shareholders all own a little piece of the company. Therefore, shareholders want the company to succeed, so their shares will be worth more money. If one shareholder owns more than 50% of the shares, that person can control the company. Otherwise, the shareholders will have to work together to make decisions.
Vocabulary lists containing shareholder
Personal Finance and Financial Literacy - High School
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Personal Finance and Financial Literacy - Middle School
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The Industrial Revolution - Middle School and High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His reign at the 7-Eleven empire came to an end in 2016, when he resigned following a boardroom clash with U.S. investor Third Point, a rare example of U.S.-style shareholder activism intruding into Japanese boardrooms.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026
“We see this as an important catalyst to provide investors with greater certainty around higher shareholder returns, which we expect will drive a re-rating through CY26-27,” Citi says.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026
One thing the majority shareholder could do before those talks is take a poll of the Celtic players.
From BBC • May 23, 2026
Though the buyback authorization was disappointing to some, to Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial, the shareholder returns were “not generosity,” but “a confession.”
From MarketWatch • May 22, 2026
He became Avant!’s single largest shareholder; he pressed management for changes.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
