Stock market

Share (Stock)

A small piece of ownership in a company, also called a stock. Owning one share means owning a tiny fraction of the business.

Why does it matter?

Shares are what people buy and sell on the stock market. The price of one share times the number of shares gives the market cap.

How do I read it?

The price of a single share doesn't tell you how big a company is, because companies divide their ownership into very different numbers of shares.

Example

If a company is divided into 1 billion shares and you own 100, you own 0.00001% of the company, with the same rights per share as every other shareholder.