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What Is a Company, and What Does It Mean to Own Part of One?

The Stock Market for Beginners • Beginner Investing • 5 min

A company, at its core, is an organization that produces a good or service, sells it for more than it costs to make, and keeps the difference as profit. Most large companies are structured as corporations — a specific legal form that makes the business its own separate legal entity, distinct from the people who founded or run it. That separation matters enormously: a corporation can own property, sign contracts, owe…

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