A corporation is owned by a group of investors called stockholders or shareholders. A share of common stock represents a portion of ownership in a company.
Stockholders enjoy the privileges of ownership.
They share company profits and exercise voting rights in the management of the company. Stocks are bought and sold daily on the stock market. The stock market is not a literal market, it merely describes the activity of buying and selling shares of corporations. Some trading activity is organized into exchanges. The general public can buy and sell stocks through brokerage firms who have membership on the exchanges.