The company structure separates the roles of investors and management, unlike some other business structures where the same person generally fulfils both roles.
Companies gain capital investment from shareholders, and are run by directors.
The same person can be both a director and a shareholder. Companies are owned by shareholders. Each share is a proportion of the company, which the shareholder owns. Both public and proprietary companies may have as few as one member, but whereas a public company, such as BHP, will often have thousands, a proprietary company may have a maximum of 50 non-employee shareholders. All companies must have a director.