stakeholder vs. shareholder

[Torsten]

I understand that a stakeholder of a company is not necessarily a shareholder and vice versa. Could you please tell me how you would define both terms?

Thanks,
Torsten
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[Alan]

Hi Torsten,

I believe that 'shareholder' is someone who has invested in a company and 'stakeholder' is not so much a financial investor but more like a supporter in something much more general. But I have to admit I'm on shaky ground here. All I know is that current government here used 'stakeholder' in their pre-election propaganda persuading people to participate in the country's affairs and become 'stakeholders' in the UK.

Alan
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[Jamie (K)]

A shareholder is someone who holds shares in the company. So, as Alan said, the shareholder is an investor.

European governments and companies are now using the term "stakeholder" to mean anyone at all who is affected by what a company does or in some way sticks his nose into the company's affairs. From what I'm seeing nowadays, this means not only investors, but also workers, government bureaucrats, people who live in the same city as a corporate facility, angry groups of activists, people who "care" about something tangentially related to the company. In other words, the way they use the word, a stakeholder is pretty much anyone who says he's a stakeholder.