Common stock
Common Stock, also referred to as Common shares, are, as the name implies, the most usual and commonly held form of Stock in a corporation. The other type of shares that the public can hold in a corporation is known as Preferred Stock. Common stock that has been re-purchased by the coporation is known as Treasury stock and is available for a variety of corporate uses.
Common stock typically has voting rights in coporate decision matters, though perhaps different rights from preferred stock. In order of priority in a liquidation of a corporation, the owners of common stock are near the last. Dividends paid to stockholders must be paid to preferred shares before being paid to common stock shareholders.
