A shareholder is a natural or legal person, including a joint-stock company or a foreign company, which has not the status of a legal person but has civil capacity following the legislation of a foreign state. A shareholder may be the Russian Federation, its constituent entity, or a municipality, which owns one or more shares of the capital of a joint-stock company.

SHAREHOLDERS AND MANAGEMENT BOARD

A shareholder is a person who, together with other persons who have this status within the company, represents the company’s governing body.

All decisions within the organization are made at the shareholders’ meeting, both at the next and extraordinary. The quantity of shares determines the rights of shareholders with the company.

This can be either the right to nominate a candidate for the board of directors or the right to put the issue on the general assembly’s agenda.

The size of the block of shares does not affect the shareholders’ right to participate in the meeting and the right to receive dividends. Dividends are calculated following the size of the block of shares, but only if their

payment is made at the planned meeting.

INVESTORS AND MANAGEMENT

An investor can be either a legal entity or a natural person who invests capital in investment projects. Investors are more interested in projects that can minimize risks.

The participants of the joint-stock company are interested in promoting projects to increase dividends by actively participating in their development. The investor has no such right.

He considers the project, analyzes its actual state and prospects, makes a decision.

WHO ARE THE SHAREHOLDERS?

A shareholder is the owner of certain shares, the type of which determines his membership in a specific category. It can be different: owner of ordinary shares or preferred shares.

The following categories differ depending on the number of assets: sole shareholder holding 100% of the shares; majority or significant, which owns a predominant package of securities,

which gives him legal right to join in decisions the management of the joint-stock company; minority shareholder, he owns less than 50% of the voting shares;

A retail shareholder is a person who holds a minimum amount of shares, which allows participation only in the general meeting and entitles to a dividend.

If there is only a 1% stake, the natural or legal person already has the full right to select candidates for the company’s board of directors.

As for the investor, regardless of the amount invested in the project or the company, this right will not get.

The maximum similarity of the two financial market participants can only be seen if we compare the investor and the retail shareholder. Moreover, the latter will have a particular advantage regarding the right to

participate in the General Assembly.

DIFFERENCE IN OPPORTUNITIES

If we consider shareholders and investors about possible earnings prospects, we can talk about more diverse instruments in the latter.

The investor has everything necessary to invest not only in the joint-stock company but also in precious metals, currency, securities, including shares, but without acquiring the right to participate in decision-making

regarding the company’s activities in which he invested. It is worth saying that in case of project bankruptcy, the investor gets nothing. The shareholder has every right to claim his share following the block of shares,

counting on the organization’s capital, which remains after the payment of all debts.

This right applies not only to the material base of the company but also to the assets on the balance sheet (equipment, machinery, real estate, etc.).

SHAREHOLDERS AND INVESTORS – REMARKABLE SIMILARITIES ON THE EXAMPLE OF GAZPROM SHARES

Gazprom’s shareholders and the people who decided to invest their money in a large Russian company are the same people, although only if we consider working with small capital.

Investments can be very different, including investing in buying stocks, which determines the presence of colossal similarities. The meeting of shareholders and parallel investors is conducted systematically, but to

participate in them or not, it is an individual decision. With a minimum share of ownership of the company, a natural or legal person cannot influence changes in their work rules.

Gazprom shareholders (and investors at the same time) buy assets either through a bank, with the support of a brokerage firm, or on the MICEX and RTS exchanges.

In most situations, small investors and shareholders do not wait for the payment of dividends; decisions on their implementation are made at the meeting.

They capture when stocks rise and sell them, earning on the price difference. This trend is relevant only for small shareholders and investors.

The leading players in this market segment have bigger plans and goals.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SHAREHOLDERS AND INVESTORS IN SBERBANK?

As with Gazprom, there is no difference between small shareholders and investors, as investing in the country’s largest financial institution is only possible by buying shares, which automatically transfers financial market

participants from one category to another. Shareholders of Sberbank who hold preferred shares that do not provide access to participation in the meeting can undoubtedly be called investors in the complete sense of

the term. Sberbank’s shareholders who have access to conferences and the acquisition of assets to participate in the work of the financial institution are guided by long-term prospects.

After today’s global crises of recent decades, modern investors prefer to invest in a project with a short payback period of no more than 2-3 months.