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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6874399" data-attributes="member: 177">Not true, in the sense that many (in fact, probably the majority in terms of numbers) companies are privately held, not publicly traded.  We are tempted to say that, well, the private owner is still a "shareholder", but the difference is likely not trivial.  For a publicly traded company, the shareholders are effectively nameless, faceless, distant, and generally interested only in the money.  In privately held companies, you are talking about a small number of individuals with personal approaches that aren't washed out by statistics and distance.This is dreadfully important when the company in question is, for example, a game store.  I have nearly no ability to influence the policies of, say, my local Barnes & Noble, as it answers to the large swath of faceless shareholders that influence corporate policy.  But, I know by name the owners of the two FLGS, and I play live-action games with one on a regular basis.  These guys can be influenced by my reasoned arguments, where my local B&N cannot.</blockquote>