What is a shareholder? Shareholders are called shareholders. They are investors and owners of the company. Shareholders can be natural persons, profit-making organizations, non-profit organizations, etc. It can be an individual or group with China nationality or registered in China, or an individual or group with other nationalities or registered abroad. Shareholders enjoy various rights and bear limited liabilities according to their status.

2. What is a joint-stock company?

A joint-stock company refers to an enterprise organization established in accordance with the law, which raises capital by issuing shares and aims at making profits. In stock knowledge, joint-stock company is the inevitable product of the development of commodity economy and socialized mass production to a certain stage. With the development of social productive forces and the continuous expansion of production and operation scale, more and more capital is needed to develop production. It is difficult to meet the needs of forming a large enterprise by relying only on the capital of a single person or the capital of several partnerships. As a result, joint-stock companies came into being. By issuing stocks, the capital of many capitalists and other scattered funds in society are brought together to form a joint-stock company.

Joint-stock companies have a history of more than 400 years since they came into being. In the past 100 years, joint-stock companies have been widely developed. It has not only become the dominant enterprise organization form in today's capitalist world, but also developed to a certain extent in socialist countries. In recent years, the joint-stock economy in China has shown its vitality in the planned commodity economy, and some standardized joint-stock companies have been established in some pilot cities. With the deepening of reform and opening up and the growing development of socialist planned commodity economy, joint-stock companies have broad development prospects.

As an economic organization, a joint-stock company has the following basic meanings:

(1) Thin capital is assembled in the form of stocks, and multiple capitals are * * * with capital and * * * with operation.

(2) A joint-stock company must be established in accordance with relevant legal procedures and regulations and must operate within the statutory scope.

(3) A joint-stock company has independent legal personality, independent property and a certain organizational form, and exercises rights and assumes obligations through its own representatives. As shares can be transferred, shareholders who are members of the company can change constantly.

However, as long as the company does not go bankrupt and does not need reorganization, merger or dissolution, it can maintain the continuity and stability of its operation, that is to say, the production of the joint-stock company can last for a long time, and the life of the company will not end because of the change of its members.

(4) Shareholders exercise their rights and obligations according to the shares they hold. Shareholders may directly or entrust their representatives to participate in the operation and management of the company and share the benefits according to the number of shares they hold.