stakeholder

American  

[steyk-hohl-der] / ˈsteɪkˌhoʊl dər /

noun

stakeholders plural

1. the holder of the stakes of a wager.

2. a person or group that has an investment, share, or interest in something, as a business or industry.

3. Law. a person holding money or property to which two or more persons make rival claims.

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stakeholder British  

/ ˈsteɪkˌhəʊldə /

noun

1. a person or group owning a significant percentage of a company's shares

2. a person or group not owning shares in an enterprise but affected by or having an interest in its operations, such as the employees, customers, local community, etc

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adjective

1. of or relating to policies intended to allow people to participate in and benefit from decisions made by enterprises in which they have a stake

   a stakeholder economy

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• stakeholders
  plural

Etymology

Origin of stakeholder

First recorded in 1700–10; stake ² + holder

Explanation

A stakeholder is a person interested in a company. If you become CEO of a big company, you'll have to keep the interests of every stakeholder in mind, from the employees to the customers to the investors, whenever you make decisions. Supposedly people used to gamble by putting their money on a wooden stake, and a person called a stakeholder who wasn't involved in the betting would supervise to make sure everything was fair. No one uses wooden stakes anymore, but we still call the person who holds the money and monitors the betting the stakeholder, and people often use stake to mean "risk," or "investment." That's why someone who is invested in a business is also called a stakeholder.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stakeholder stakeholders

The for-profit arm is now a Delaware public-benefit corporation, a for-profit company whose directors can balance profit, stakeholder interests, and a specified public mission—as they see fit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

"There will be stakeholder consultations before any final decision is taken."

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026

Prominent money manager Bill Smead, whose firm has been an eBay stakeholder for nearly 20 years, says he doesn’t see a reason for eBay to sell to GameStop.

From Barron's ● May 8, 2026

Attorneys representing Purdue, the Sackler family and other stakeholder groups, including victims, began months of confidential mediations.

From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026

Social capital usually means emotional support and encouragement from a reliable stakeholder in one’s life, an asset commonly associated with marriage that is itself a form of wealth.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

They also called for a common framework for attribution studies, noting that differing methods "sometimes leads to confusion among the public and other stakeholders when studies of the same event produce different results."

From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026

“It truly isn’t the referee’s fault. We’re not the ones seeking more advanced technology. We don’t want to look like robots out there. But the stakeholders are like ‘more, more, more.’

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

Ransom’s employees got PlanForce shares, becoming stakeholders in the company.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026

The company said the proposal was the best way for the London-based real-estate investment trust to maximize long-term value for its shareholders and wider stakeholders.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

The invisible hand must be firmly clasped and guided by functioning and impartial institutions, an ingrained culture of entrepreneurship and fair play, classes of stakeholders, checks and balances and good governance on all levels.

From The Belgian Curtain Europe after Communism by Vaknin, Samuel

Related Words

• collaborator
• colleague
• partner
• shareholder