1. a person who has bought units of ownership in a business, which entitles them to
1.nounB2
Definition
a person who has bought units of ownership in a business, which entitles them to a share of its profits and to help decide important matters such as who runs the company.
Example
Mei-Lin became a stockholder after buying two hundred shares in a local bank.
The company's annual meeting gave stockholders a chance to vote on the new board members.
A stockholder and a shareholder are essentially the same — both own equity shares in a corporation. 'Shareholder' is the dominant term in British English, while 'stockholder' is more common in American English, but the two are interchangeable in most contexts. An investor is a broader category: someone who puts money into any financial asset (bonds, mutual funds, real estate) expecting a return. A stockholder is always an investor, but an investor is not necessarily a stockholder. A bondholder lends money to a company or government and receives fixed interest payments, but owns no part of the business and has no voting rights, unlike a stockholder. For example, a person who buys Apple shares is a stockholder and an investor; someone who buys Apple corporate bonds is a bondholder and an investor, but not a stockholder.
The word combines 'stock' (from Old English 'stocc', meaning a trunk or post, later extended to mean a supply of goods or capital) with 'holder' (someone who holds or possesses something). The financial sense of 'stock' as 'shares in a company's capital' developed in the early 1600s, and 'stockholder' came into use around the same time as companies began selling ownership stakes to the public.