Share - Financial definition
Financial acronyms
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Concise definition of the term share
A share is a certificate which represents a right of ownership in a company. If confers its owner a number of rights, the most prominent of which being the right to take part in the decisions affecting the company by voting, and to be attributed a share of the company's profit.
Comprehensive definition of the term share
Share or stock?
The term stock is generally used to describe the ownership certificates of any company, while share refers to the ownership certificates of a particular company.
Thus, an investor would say that he owns stocks when talking about his investments in general, and that he has bought Apple shares when talking about his investment in a specific company.
This distinction is reflected in the terms “stockbroker” and “shareholder”. A stockbroker deals in shares in general, the term shareholder, however, is generally used when talking about owners of shares of a specific company.