Final answer:
Market stakeholders with ownership in a firm are shareholders, stockholders, and investors. These terms describe those who have invested capital by buying stock and own parts of the firm. Shareholders aim for the maximal return on their investments, whereas stakeholders include anyone impacted by the firm’s operations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Market stakeholders who have ownership in a firm are called shareholders, stockholders, and investors. These terms can be used interchangeably to refer to individuals or entities that have invested capital in a company and therefore own a portion of that company. According to Friedman, shareholders, or stockholders, are entitled to the maximum possible return on their investment, and their interests are often seen as a priority. Despite the similarity, stakeholders is a broader term encompassing all parties affected by a company's operations, including employees, customers, communities, and shareholders themselves.
When an individual buys stock in a company, they become one of the company's shareholders. This stock is divided into shares, which are individual portions of the company's equity. Even holders of thousands of shares in large corporations like IBM, AT&T, and Microsoft possess only a small slice of the company's overall ownership due to the vast number of shares in circulation.