Shareholder

A shareholder is anyone who owns at least one share of a company's stock, which makes them a partial owner of that company with a claim on its residual profits and assets after all other obligations are paid. Common shareholders typically get one vote per share on major corporate matters.

Ownership does not mean control for most shareholders. A retail investor owning 100 shares of a company with billions of shares outstanding has a vote that is mathematically negligible on its own, which is why shareholder influence in practice runs through large institutional holders and proxy voting outcomes.