In parts one and two of my primer course on stocks, I let you know that the stock of a business represents the original amount of money that went into founding it. Businesses divide stocks into shares, and each share represents a fraction of ownership. I wrote about shareholders, who are people that own one or more shares of stock in a joint stock company and “share ownership” of the company. I told you that they have special privileges depending on the class of stock they own, and that they will use their shares as votes in the election of members of the board of directors of the company.