Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms "voting share" or "ordinary share" are also used in other parts of the world; common stock being primarily used in the United States.

It is called "common" to distinguish it from preferred stock. If both types of stock exist, common stock holders cannot be paid dividends until all preferred stock dividends (including payments in arrears) are paid in full.

In the event of bankruptcy, common stock investors receive any remaining funds after bondholders, creditors (including employees), and preferred stock holders are paid. As such, such investors often receive nothing after a bankruptcy.

On the other hand, common shares on average perform better than preferred shares or bonds over time.

Common stock usually carries with it the right to vote on certain matters, such as electing the board of directors. However, a company can have both a "voting" and "non-voting" class of common stock.

Holders of common stock are able to influence the corporation through votes on establishing corporate objectives and policy, stock splits, and electing the company's board of directors. Some holders of common stock also receive preemptive rights, which enable them to retain their proportional ownership in a company should it issue another stock offering. There is no fixed dividend paid out to common stock holders and so their returns are uncertain, contingent on earnings, company reinvestment, efficiency of the market to value and sell stock.

Julie M. Benz (born May 1, 1972) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and as Rita Bennett on Dexter, for which she won the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. She starred on the series No Ordinary Family until it was cancelled on May 13, 2011. She had a recurring role in the CBS show A Gifted Man until it was cancelled on May 12, 2012.

Benz was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father is a surgeon in Pittsburgh. The family settled in nearby Murrysville when Benz was two, and she started ice skating when she was three. She competed in the 1988 U.S. Championships in junior ice dancing with her skating partner David Schilling, finishing in 13th place. Her older brother and sister, Jeffrey and Jennifer, were the 1987 U.S. Junior Champions in ice dancing and competed internationally. When Benz was 14, she suffered a stress fracture in her right leg and had to take time off. She grew up in Murrysville, graduating from Franklin Regional High School.

Robert H. Lustig, MD is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He is nationally recognized in the field of neuroendocrinology, with an emphasis on the regulation of energy balance by the central nervous system. He has a special interest in childhood obesity. He has become publicly notable through his efforts to draw attention to the effects that the natural sugar fructose can have on human and especially children's health if consumed in large amounts. On May 26, 2009, Lustig gave a lecture called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” which was posted on YouTube the following July and has become a viral success with over nearly 2.5 million viewings (as of Jun 2, 2012). In this lecture, Lustig notably calls fructose a "poison" and compares its metabolic effects with those of ethanol. Lustig is particularly critical of the widespread use of high-fructose corn syrup in the United States.

Lustig grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. He obtained his bachelors degree from MIT in 1976, and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1980. From there, he spent six years as a research associate in neuroendocrinology at The Rockefeller University. He performed his pediatric residency at St. Louis Children's Hospital, and his clinical fellowship at UCSF which he joined in 1984.