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Meaning & use

majority owner

noun·Advanced

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UK/məˈdʒɒrəti ˈəʊnə/
US/məˈdʒɔːrəti ˈoʊnər/

Meanings

  1. nouncountablebusinessfinance

    A person or organization that owns more than half of a company's shares.

    Grammar: Countable: use 'a majority owner' for one, 'majority owners' for more than one. Often followed by 'of': 'the majority owner of the firm'.

    Patterns

    • a majority owner of something
    • become the majority owner
    • the majority owner in a company

    After the merger, she became the majority owner of the family bakery.

    The majority owner controls more than half the voting shares, so no decision passes without her approval.

    A foreign investment group is now the majority owner of the local football club.

  2. nouncountablebusinessinformal

    A person who owns the largest share of a piece of property or business, even if it is not more than half.

    Grammar: In everyday speech this looser meaning is common, but in legal and financial writing 'majority owner' strictly means more than 50 percent.

    Patterns

    • the majority owner of something
    • majority owner of a property

    He is the majority owner of the building, with his brother holding a smaller share.

    The majority owner of the land agreed to sell, but the other family members objected.

Word forms

pluralmajority owners

Common combinations

become the majority owner
She became the majority owner after buying out her business partner.
the majority owner of a company
The majority owner of the company announced a new chief executive.
majority owner and chairman
He is both the majority owner and the chairman of the board.
sell to a majority owner
The founders decided to sell their shares to a majority owner.
a controlling majority owner
A controlling majority owner can usually appoint the directors.

Synonyms and how they differ

controlling shareholder
Very close, but it emphasizes power over decisions rather than the size of the ownership stake.
majority shareholder
Almost the same meaning; 'shareholder' is more common in finance, while 'owner' is more general.
main owner
Less precise: it can mean the most important owner without necessarily owning more than half.

Opposites

minority owner

Word family

majority ownership noun
The state of owning more than half of a company or property.
owner noun
A person who owns something; the base word in this phrase.
ownership noun
The fact or right of owning something.

Commonly confused: majority owner or majority shareholder? majority owner or minority owner?

majority owner vs majority shareholder

This is not a mistake, but a close alternative. Use 'shareholder' when talking about shares in a company; use 'owner' more generally for property or a business.

majority owner vs minority owner

The opposite: a minority owner holds less than half the shares and usually has less control.

Practice

Choose the best completion: 'A majority owner holds ___ of a company's shares.'

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