Just about everyone with retirement savings or a pension is a shareholder, usually via index funds. I’m not sure if you can access your voting rights for those shares, or if they’re handled by the index fund manager (who for sure is voting for profit at all costs)
Well, you're a shareholder in that fund. The fund is a shareholder in the end companies.
In practice, this means Vanguard/Fidelity/Schwab/etc have people whose job it is to research and vote in shareholder meetings for the companies where the fund has significant ownership. That's a big part of what the fund's expense ratio is paying for.
Typically, no. You don't get to vote for an index or mutual fund.
I've found stocks to be a fun thing to kind of collect. That company seems fun and stocks are $34. Eh, I'll buy one. And then just forget I have it. I don't do day trading or anything like that. So it's low stress and unless you are trying to buy a lot, relatively cheap. Occasionally you'll even get 24 cents back!
You're one of many minor shareholders. They give you in theory some say in the company, with one vote per share, but in practice you're ignored. Then you have the major shareholders, owning millions in shares, and having some to big influence in the company. These are the people they invite to shareholder meetings. And then there is the special class of shareholders, think of Musk and Zuckerberg, that own now billions in shares that give them 10 votes per share for example so nobody can outvote them.
Yes, a shareholder is one who owns stocks. But you can say there's another tier, if you own say 10% of a company's stock you may actually get to influence how the company runs. That is called the board of directors. They decide what path the company goes down, the CEO, etc. (Technically it's the shareholders that decide, but your 1 millionth voting power isn't doing anything when your local billionaire has a billion dollars more stock than you.)
Yes, a shareholder is someone who owns part of the company, which is what stocks/shares are.
There are different stock types, though. Common stock is what everyone thinks of when they hear stocks/shared. You own a portion of the company and can vote on stuff, and maybe get some dividends.
Then there are preferred stocks which are basically a hybrid stock/bond with a fixed regular dividend. They also get first claim to the company assets if it goes under, but they usually don't have voting rights. Then there are subtypes of preferred stocks.
27 Comments
ThunderQueen@lemmy.world · 77 pts · 71d
outstanding_bond@mander.xyz · 60 pts · 71d
Just about everyone with retirement savings or a pension is a shareholder, usually via index funds. I’m not sure if you can access your voting rights for those shares, or if they’re handled by the index fund manager (who for sure is voting for profit at all costs)
Tommelot@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 71d
Technically speaking you're not the shareholder, but the fund is. You cannot get voting rights from owning ETFs.
Bassman1805@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 71d
Well, you're a shareholder in that fund. The fund is a shareholder in the end companies.
In practice, this means Vanguard/Fidelity/Schwab/etc have people whose job it is to research and vote in shareholder meetings for the companies where the fund has significant ownership. That's a big part of what the fund's expense ratio is paying for.
diabetic_porcupine@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 68d
The fund is a product
ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip · 1 pts · 70d
Many of them do, in fact, extend the ability to vote for your weighted portion to you.
brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 13 pts · 71d
Typically, no. You don't get to vote for an index or mutual fund.
I've found stocks to be a fun thing to kind of collect. That company seems fun and stocks are $34. Eh, I'll buy one. And then just forget I have it. I don't do day trading or anything like that. So it's low stress and unless you are trying to buy a lot, relatively cheap. Occasionally you'll even get 24 cents back!
a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 70d
Lol, Imma call the CEO of index funds.
bss03@infosec.pub · 34 pts · 71d
I own 4 shares of IBM. A friend of my father's bought one for me as a birth present, and it split twice since then.
lime@feddit.nu · 30 pts · 71d
at this pace you'll own more shares than there are in the entire world by the time you're 64
Frozengyro@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 71d
Not sure if math joke or downfall of society joke.
Natanael@infosec.pub · 17 pts · 71d
Yes
lime@feddit.nu · 6 pts · 71d
it's chess
bss03@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 70d
2 splits in 46 years is not that pace. But, nice ref.
crazycraw@crazypeople.online · 23 pts · 71d
well they do view the constitution as weak...
bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 71d
And have proven it so repeatedly
RebekahWSD@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 71d
I've never quite understood, is a shareholder just someone with stock in a company or is it a level above that?
If it's just stocks I theoretically own a few in Disney somewhere. It was a gift for being born.
nibbler@discuss.tchncs.de · 18 pts · 71d
If you hold a share, you hold a share. makes you a share holder imho.
also: congrats on being born from me, too!
Flower@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 71d
You're one of many minor shareholders. They give you in theory some say in the company, with one vote per share, but in practice you're ignored. Then you have the major shareholders, owning millions in shares, and having some to big influence in the company. These are the people they invite to shareholder meetings. And then there is the special class of shareholders, think of Musk and Zuckerberg, that own now billions in shares that give them 10 votes per share for example so nobody can outvote them.
evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 71d
I never understood how special shares were legal. I mean, I do understand that it's because the ownership class wants it that way, but it's insane.
It's literally letting people have their cake of controlling a company while eating it by selling the company off simultaneously.
PyroNeurosis@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 70d
Some special shares are cheaper, but you don't get a vote. Those shares are for the sort that just wanna ride the corporate wave without any "guilt".
someguy3@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 71d
Yes, a shareholder is one who owns stocks. But you can say there's another tier, if you own say 10% of a company's stock you may actually get to influence how the company runs. That is called the board of directors. They decide what path the company goes down, the CEO, etc. (Technically it's the shareholders that decide, but your 1 millionth voting power isn't doing anything when your local billionaire has a billion dollars more stock than you.)
village604@adultswim.fan · 6 pts · 71d
Yes, a shareholder is someone who owns part of the company, which is what stocks/shares are.
There are different stock types, though. Common stock is what everyone thinks of when they hear stocks/shared. You own a portion of the company and can vote on stuff, and maybe get some dividends.
Then there are preferred stocks which are basically a hybrid stock/bond with a fixed regular dividend. They also get first claim to the company assets if it goes under, but they usually don't have voting rights. Then there are subtypes of preferred stocks.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 70d
Yes, you're a shareholder. It just means you own shares in the company.
Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 71d
Sounds like something a shareholder would say.
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 71d
Sounds like something that someone who says things would say.
Formfiller@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 70d
They’re listed in the Epstein files
HollieK72@mastodonapp.uk · 2 pts · 70d
@The_Picard_Maneuver They do forget that they are overheard when doing loud business calls on the train or in the coffee shop, etc.