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Shareholder or Stockholder: Definition, Types, and Rights

And executives shouldn’t feel obligated or motivated to spend company resources on social responsibilities unless the shareholders tell them to or it benefits the bottom line. According to Friedman, a public company’s executives are employees or “agents” and, as such, should be prioritizing and delivering what the company’s owners, or its stockholders, want. That’s why it’s important to understand the lens through which a company is viewed by a shareholder vs. stakeholder. Shareholders are technically stakeholders since they have...