Shareholder equity is typically included on company balance sheets as a measurement of the total dollar figure that all shareholders collectively own. In other words, if a company were to suddenly close up shop, sell off everything it owns, and settle all of its debts, the shareholder equity would be the money left over after doing all of that. This rarely happens in the real world, but the calculation is useful for gauging the overall value of a company. If it were to happen in the real world, the shareholder equity would be distributed to shareholders according to the number of shares they own.