Learn in the textbookCorporate Governance and Disclosure
DefinitionA shareholders' meeting (株主総会) is the highest decision-making body among a company's organs, where the shareholders who invested in a stock company gather, exercise their voting rights and decide the company's basic matters.
ExplanationShareholders hold voting rights in proportion to the number of shares they own, and the company's will is decided by majority vote. Besides the annual general meeting (定時株主総会) held every year after the accounts are closed, an extraordinary general meeting (臨時株主総会) is called when something must be decided urgently. The shareholders' meeting is where the people who run the company are chosen, and the elected directors then carry out day-to-day management.
AnalogyIt resembles the general meeting of a condominium owners' association. Unit owners gather to elect the board members who will manage the building, and weighty matters such as major repairs are decided at that meeting.
Memory hookIts other name, the general meeting of shareholders, gives the clue: "general" means open to all. Because the meeting is open to every owner of the company, it sits at the top.