IPO
Initial public offering — the first sale of a private company's shares to the public, listing it on an exchange.
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Common Stock
The ordinary shares most investors own: what common stock is, the rights it carries (voting and a residual claim on profits and assets), how you make money from it through growth and dividends, why it sits last in line, and how it differs from preferred stock.
Dividends
The income side of owning shares: what dividends are, how dividend yield and the payout ratio work, the key dates (declaration, ex-dividend, record, payment), why reinvesting them supercharges compounding, the difference between growth and income investing, and why dividends are never guaranteed.
Buybacks
How and why a company buys back its own shares: how repurchases shrink the outstanding count and lift per-share figures, why buybacks are an alternative to dividends, the mechanics (open-market and tender offers), the difference between treasury and cancelled shares, and the serious criticisms — buybacks at high prices, debt-funded repurchases, and masking stock-comp dilution.
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