Final answer:
A corporation is owned by shareholders who purchase its stock, which represents ownership of the firm. Stock is divided into shares, and each shareholder has only a small slice of the overall ownership of the company.
Step-by-step explanation:
A corporation is a business that "incorporates"; that is owned by shareholders that have limited liability for the company's debt but share in its profits (and losses). Corporations may be private or public, and may or may not have publicly traded stock. They may raise funds to finance their operations or new investments by raising capital through selling stock or issuing bonds.
When people purchase a corporation's stock, they become the owners, or shareholders, of the firm. Stock represents ownership of a firm; that is, a person who owns 100% of a company's stock, by definition, owns the entire company. The stock of a company is divided into shares, and large numbers of shareholders each have only a small slice of the overall ownership of the firm.