"So schwab would be counted as a shareholder, e-trade as a shareholder, etc.?"
Yes.
Here's a great example from the annual report of a company much bigger than NETZ, that has twice the shares outstanding, and has even FEWER shareholders of record... From CREAF's annual report:
"As of October 31, 1997, there were approximately 1,988 shareholders of record of the Ordinary shares, of which approximately 254 were registered in the US and approximately 1,744 in Singapore. Because many of the US shares are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of shareholders, Creative is unable to estimate the total number of shareholders represented by these US record holders."
Note that CREAF's *primary* exchange is NASDAQ, *not* the Singapore Stock Exchange! NASDAQ does many times the volume in CREAF shares that is does on the SES.
This example is complicated by the fact that CREAF is a foreign company, and probably more US shareholders hold their stock in street name than would were it a US company. But you get the idea - the company says explicitly in their annual report that they don't know how many shareholders they have, and you will find this statement in almost EVERY annual report of EVERY company. Look on the page at the back entitled "Stock Market Information". |
