ABSTRACT
The post-war period witnessed numerous changes in the ownership and control of enterprises, some more conspicuous than others. The two most conspicuous changes were the expanding areas of public ownership and the wider spread, or ‘democratization’ of company holdings. Of the two, the so-called ‘democratization’ of ownership was the less significant one; it has, however, received most publicity. Throughout our period writings in praise of the existing economic order invariably made play of the spread of ownership – not only of houses and motor-cars but also of industrial capital – among the broad masses of population. The statistics commonly cited were those of larger numbers of people with investments in shares of companies. Some great companies published analyses of their share-ownership, showing that their capital was to an increasing degree owned by very large numbers of individuals and institutions. In the United Kingdom, Shell, Courtaulds and other great firms repeatedly drew attention to the very large numbers – hundreds of thousands – of their shareholders. A recent survey of eleven major steel companies in 1963, showed that their capital was held by more than 275,000 shareholders; that the average shareholding was £885 a head in nominal value, and that more than 92 per cent of the shareholders held less than 1,000 shares each. Of the remaining 8 per cent the bulk was held not by private persons but by insurance companies, pension funds, unit trusts, and trade unions. These figures could be capped by the published statistics of shareholders in a number of large firms in every European country – Philips Lamps, Royal Dutch, Unilever N.V., and many others. 1
