What action by president lincoln most angered the radical reoublicans in congress.
Shares also trade in a secondary market on stock exchanges. A company can increase or decrease the number of shares outstanding without an IPO through stock splits and reverse splits. In all cases, the beneficiary of reverse split activity is the management of the company performing the reverse split. Shareholders may or may not benefit depending on the specifics of the reverse split.
Investopedia explains Reverse Stock Split. For example, a 1-for-2 reverse split means that a shareholder will get half as many shares but at twice the price. A company that is forced into a reverse split may be in trouble because firms sometimes do it to artificially inflate their stock's price.