Who owns the large American companies that produce cars, washing machines, and television sets? They are owned by a large group of people called stockholders. A company must have money to build factories and to buy machinery. To get this money, it sells shares of stock . Each share of stock is a share in the ownership of the company. The person who buys a share of stock becomes a part owner of the company. He is called a stockholder. A company can have thousands of stockholders. Sometimes a very large company is owned by millions of stockholders. Few persons can afford to buy a whole company, but the average individual can become part owner of a business. He can save his dollars and buy a share of stock in a large company. A person does not have to be wealthy to be a stockholder. When a company makes money, each stockholder may receive a dividend  check, which is his share of the profits . Parts of a company's profits are not paid out to the stockholders. This money is used by the company so it can grow larger. If the company does well, its shares of stock become more valuable. More than 20 million people own shares of stock in America's companies. By owning stock, they are helping America's businesses grow. They are also putting their money to work to earn more money. A dividend is the stockholder's share of the   _  .
company's profits company's savings company's income products made by the company