It has always puzzled me to know if I own stock of a big company and myself own a business, can I use that to make the Big company do business with my not so big business?Would I need to buy more shares? How much is enough?
Think about how this would scale... Anybody could setup some lame business, buy a few shares of stock in a handful or large organizations and 'force' those companies to do business with them?
Sorry, but if you think this through, it's not even remotely logical.
No. Owning stock in a Fortune 500 company generally doesn't even give you a vote, because those are "privileged" shares, or even a share in the profits of the business (dividend).
Even in the case of a smaller company, operating according to how joint stock companies are theoretically supposed to operate, this would generally not be legal. The board and officers have a fiduciary responsibility to all the shareholders, and they are not supposed to do something that benefits one shareholders other interests while costing the others through inefficiency.
In a system where all investors where roughly equal, the loss from cheating company the one company should roughly equal the benefit of the other, and crime would not happen often.
If that were possible, commerce would run with the efficiency of a nepotistic fiefdom.
Even if you held a controlling stake, the other shareholders might accuse you of having a conflict of interest, and funneling funds to your private coffers.
Forcing is usually a bad idea in relationships; private and professional.
Yes, if you own a controlling interest in the company you could probably make it do pretty much anything within the law that you wanted (sucks to be a minority shareholder sometimes) but then, if you did own the majority of shares in a big company you are, by definition, a big player yourself.
Shareholders and the Board appoint people (aka management) to run a company. Management has a fiduciary duty to do what is optimal for shareholders (maximimize value). If your company will help management do that, they may choose to work with you.
Owning shares has no direct influence as far as I can tell. Of course, owning a lot of the company might give you a voice they'll listen to.
[+] [-] brk|15 years ago|reply
Sorry, but if you think this through, it's not even remotely logical.
[+] [-] RobGR|15 years ago|reply
Even in the case of a smaller company, operating according to how joint stock companies are theoretically supposed to operate, this would generally not be legal. The board and officers have a fiduciary responsibility to all the shareholders, and they are not supposed to do something that benefits one shareholders other interests while costing the others through inefficiency.
In a system where all investors where roughly equal, the loss from cheating company the one company should roughly equal the benefit of the other, and crime would not happen often.
[+] [-] mahmud|15 years ago|reply
Even if you held a controlling stake, the other shareholders might accuse you of having a conflict of interest, and funneling funds to your private coffers.
Forcing is usually a bad idea in relationships; private and professional.
[+] [-] GiraffeNecktie|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asanwal|15 years ago|reply
Owning shares has no direct influence as far as I can tell. Of course, owning a lot of the company might give you a voice they'll listen to.
[+] [-] carbocation|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mobl|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bond|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] erikb85|15 years ago|reply
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