A stock split is a decision by the company's board of directors to increase the number of shares that are outstanding by issuing more shares to current shareholders. The most common split ratios are 2-for-1 or 3-for-1, which means that the stockholder will have two or three shares for every share held earlier. So, if a company had 10 million shares outstanding before the split, it will have 20 million shares outstanding after a 2-for-1 split. After a split, the stock price will be reduced since the number of shares outstanding has increased. In the example of a 2-for-1 split, the share price will be halved. Thus, although the number of outstanding shares and the stock price change, the market capitalization remains constant. For example, a company with 100 shares of stock priced at $50 per share. The market capitalization is 100 × $50, or $5000. The company splits its stock 2-for-1. There are now 200 shares of stock and each shareholder holds twice as many shares. The price of each share is adjusted to $25. The market capitalization is 200 × $25 = $5000, the same as before the split.
Sayed Farrukh Ahmed
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Business & Economics
Daffodil International University