Stuckholder
The character Larry “the Liquidator” Garfinkle in the 1989 Jerry Sterner play Other People’s Money used the term “stuckholders” to refer to “stockholders.” People were “stuck” holding the stock, for good or for bad. Occasionally, the Securities and Exchange Commission bans trading on a stock—usually because of financial irregularities. A “stuckholder” is usually a losing investor.
The term “stuckholder” hasn’t been used much since the early 1990s, but it could resurface whenever people feel “stuck” in stocks.
Investopedia
Stuckholder
The owner of a stock that can’t be sold. The term stuckholder has a negative connotation, usually because the value of the stock is dropping and circumstances prevent the owner from liquidating the position.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can suspend trading on a stock to protect investors or the public. For example, if a company does not file the correct reports in a timely and accurate manner, the SEC can put a hold on trading for up to 10 days. Once trading resumes, the stock tends to automatically fall in value due to the uncertainty associated with the violation. Stuckholders are stuck with this position when trading is suspended, even though they know that the value of the stock will drop.
Word Spy
stuckholder noun. A person or company that owns stock they can’t sell.
Example Citation:
“Its stock price had recently climbed from pennies to more than $30, even though the company was nearly three years behind in its SEC filings. Too bad more investors didn’t heed those warnings, for on June 11 the SEC abruptly suspended trading of Net Command’s shares, leaving thousands of gullible ‘stuckholders’ holding the bag at $15.”
—Christopher Byron, “Playing CyberFast and Loose With the Facts,” TheStreet.com, June 17, 1999
11 July 1939, Chicago (IL) Daily Tribune, pg. 8:
Why the Stockholder Is a Stuckholder.
Google Books
Other People’s Money: A Play in Two Acts
By Jerry Sterner
New York, NY: Samuel French, Inc.
1989
Pg. 42:
GARFINKLE. (to audience) Except the stuckholder. People get paid big money—honored people—pillars of the community—to sit and dream this shit up.
Pg. 61:
GARFINKLE. Except the stuckholders. Their stock falls out of bed. They won’t know what hit them.
Pg. 88:
GARFINKLE. And it pleases me that I’m called “Larry the Liquidator.” Do you know why, my fellow stuckholders? Because at my funeral you’ll leave with a smile on your face…and a few extra bucks in your pocket. Now that is a funeral worth having.
10 May 1990, Dallas (TX) Morning News:
“I’m what’s called a stuckholder,” he said. “I have too much stock to get out.” The stock is down 72 percent from a low in first-quarter 1989 of $24.75 and ...
18 June 1990, Wall Street Journal, pg. A9:
Lawyers and investment bankers hired themselves out to the highest bidders and conjured up schemes such as stock repurchases, shark repellents, poison pills, greenmail and golden parachutes, to protect unworthy managements while diluting stockholder, or “stuckholder” interests, as Garfinkle (Lawrence Garfinkle, “Larry the Liquidator,” in Jerry Sterner’s play, Other People’s Money—ed.) puts it.