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Shareholders are already on the hook.

The way shares work is a way for a publicly traded company to obtain a loan. It does this by issuing shares which can be bought by investors. Shareholders are not liable except for their initial investment.

After selling shares, these can be traded i.e. on NASDAQ, but any price on the shares there only reflects the public perception of value of any given company. It's a high risk lottery.

This is also the reason that companies pay out large dividends to shareholders. They're obligated by law to payout dividends. Think of it as interest on a loan.




Thats not true at all, companies are in no way obligated to pay dividends




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