what shareholders own are shares issued by the corporation and the corporation owns the assets held by a firm if you own 33 of the shares of a company it is incorrect to assert that you own one third of that company however you do own one third of the company s shares this is known as separation of ownership and control 
owning stock gives you the right to vote in shareholder meetings receive dividends if and when they are distributed and the right to sell your shares to somebody else if you own a majority of shares your voting power increases so that you can indirectly control the direction of a company by appointing its board of directors 4 this becomes most apparent when one company buys another the acquiring company buys all the outstanding shares the board of directors is responsible for increasing the value of the corporation and often does so by hiring professional managers or officers such as the chief executive officer ceo ordinary shareholders do not manage the company the importance of being a shareholder is that you are entitled to a portion of the company s profits which is the foundation of a stock s value the more shares you own the larger the portion of the profits you get many stocks however do not pay out dividends and instead reinvest profits back into growing the company these retained earnings however are still reflected in the value of a stock read about investopedia s 10 rules of investing by picking up a copy of our special issue print edition 