The Basics of Shareholders
A single shareholder who owns and controls more than 50% of a company's outstanding shares is known as a majority shareholder, while those who hold less than 50% of a company’s stock are classified as minority shareholders.
In many cases, majority shareholders are company founders. In older companies, majority shareholders are frequently descendants of a company founders. In either case, by controlling more than half of a company’s voting interest, majority shareholders wield considerable power to influence key operational decisions, including the replacement of board members, and C-level executives like chief executive officers (CEOs) and other senior personnel.