Final answer:
Owning 100% of a company's stock gives one complete control but does not necessitate that the company must be dissolved. Large corporations often have many shareholders with no majority owner. Control in a company can be shared or influenced by top shareholders depending on the voting agreements between them.
Step-by-step explanation:
Ownership of a company is determined by who has the company's stock shares. A person holding 100% of the company's stock is the sole owner, and therefore, this individual possesses complete control over the company. In contrast, in large corporations like IBM, AT&T, and Microsoft, no single investor typically holds a majority of the shares. These corporate giants have millions of shares that are owned by a multitude of shareholders, where even those holding thousands of shares represent only a fragment of the total ownership.
The question of whether a company must be dissolved if one person owns all the stock shares is a legal issue that depends on various factors, including the choice of the owner and potential legal obligations. However, there is no automatic requirement for dissolution just because one individual holds all the shares of a corporation.
For example, with 100,000 shares of stock outstanding, multiple investors in a company like the fictitious Darkroom Windowshade Company may hold different proportions of shares. If the top two shareholders agree to vote together, they can wield significant influence, but depending on the company's bylaws and the presence of a voting threshold, they may not always be guaranteed to control every decision.