Shares are units of ownership in a company. The terms "shares" and "stocks" are often used interchangeably, but they are technically different. "Stock" is the financial instrument a company issues, and a "share" is a single instance of that financial instru…

When establishing a corporation, owners may choose to issue stock to raise capital. Companies then divide their stock into shares, which are sold to investors. These investors are generally investment banks or brokers that, in turn, sell the shares to oth…

Generally, a company’s board of directors is given a specific number of shares that can be issued. These are called authorized shares. Issued shares are the number of shares sold to shareholders and counted for ownership purposes. So, a corporatio…