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brookevs
Dec 2, 2010, 09:44 AM
The 2008 annual report for Fortune Brands, the seller of Pinnacle golf balls and MasterLock padlocks, disclosed that 727 million shares of common stock have been authorized. At the end of 2007, 223 million shares had been issued and the number of shares in treasury stock was 85 million. During 2008, 3 million common shares were reissued from treasury, and 9 million common shares were purchased for treasury stock.

What is the number of common shares? Number of common shares in Treasury stock? What are the outstanding shares?

Just Looking
Dec 2, 2010, 10:18 AM
Outstanding stock is the amount of issued stock less what the company is holding. Treasury stock is what the company is holding. i.e. the company purchased their own shares and pulled them off the public market. They are still issued because they still exist, but they aren't outstanding.

In your example, issued shares are the 223 million on the statement at 2007. Treasury would be the 85 million at 2007 less the 3 million that were reissued plus the 9 million that were purchased = 91 million. Outstanding is therefore 223 million less 91 million, or 132 million. Since the transactions in 2008 only dealt with treasury stock, the issued amount does not change.