Investing in Stocks page 4

A successful voyage of the Dutch East India Company ships brought great returns, but statistically, one sailing ship in three returned home - the others could not withstand storms and pirate raids. It was necessary to assure on paper the responsibility for the ship and to determine how much return everyone who had rights to the ship would receive. This is how the company became the first stock company in the world - it issued securities in the early seventeenth century.