This study scrutinizes the shareholders’ environment and its connection with the company’s management. Does the call to numerous shareholders reduce the influence of heirs? A minority group already exercises power by selecting priority shares when capital increases. The research suggests a methodology in order to analyze the shareholders’ world from the social, geographical and numerical perspective. The owners’ replacement by managers in the twentieth century is a prevailing opinion: it must be revisited, the reality being more complicated. In many firms, a group holding a tiny part of capital has the power: other means than owning shares lead to the control. There is democracy in capital but not in the exercise of power. The company directors, very often, sideline the little shareholders. The reversals of majority are unusual in the firms of the north. The heterogeneousness of the firms, perceptible in the cycle of life and in their management style, also appears in their attitude towards the stock market. Finally, the study questions the true powers of the boards of directors.