share

In financial markets, a share is a unit of account for various investments. It often means the stock of a corporation, but is also used for collective investments such as mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. A corporation divides ownership of itself into shares, which are offered for sale to raise share capital, termed as issuing shares. Thus, a share is an indivisible unit of capital, expressing the ownership relationship between the company and the shareholder. The denominated value of a share is its face value: the total capital of a company is divided into a number of shares. The income received from shares is known as a dividend. A shareholder, also known as a stockholder, is a person who owns shares of a certain company or organization. The process of purchasing and selling shares often involves going through a stockbroker as a middle man.