Stock
From ForcaWiki, the simple encyclopedia
| In one sentence | Ownership in a publicly traded company, usually made up of common stock, that can be bought and sold on the stock market. |
|---|---|
| Category | Finance |
| Related | Common Stock, Share |
Picture a huge, ongoing marketplace where thousands of people buy and sell tiny slices of ownership in companies, all day, every day. That marketplace is the stock market, and the slices being traded are called stock.
Stock is the general word for the equity, or ownership, in a publicly traded company, a company whose ownership slices can be bought and sold by pretty much anyone through the stock market. It is often just called Common Stock, since common stock is by far the most typical kind. Each individual unit of stock that someone can own is called a Share.
Fun facts
- Not every company sells stock to the public. Many, including most individual movies, are privately financed instead, through deals like debt and equity investments rather than public shares.
- The value of a company's stock can change by the minute, rising and falling as investors buy and sell based on how they feel about the company's future.
- Big movie studios that are part of publicly traded companies have their own stock, but that is separate from how any single one of their movies is usually financed.