Please explain

[jpaschich]

I hate to be the newbie but I have a question. Can someone explain to me who owns shares of company XYZ? Can you explain the primary market, secondary market etc. Once a company goes public and earns $ off of the IPO then what? Who owns the shares at that point?

Any responses would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

[aiki14]

I hate to be the newbie but I have a question. Can someone explain to me who owns shares of company XYZ? Can you explain the primary market, secondary market etc. Once a company goes public and earns $ off of the IPO then what? Who owns the shares at that point?

Any responses would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

The primary market is where the company offers the stock directly to investors in an IPO, Secondary issue or a Rights issue.
Once the initial issue is sold, the shareholders own the stock.
When the shareholders trade the stock on the open market these are said to be traded on the secondary market.

[aiki14]

This will help:
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/02/101102.asp

[jpaschich]

Thanks akai! Thats a great article and a great website. For some reason I thought the would've been much more complicated.