• The 500 shareholder threshold was a rule set by the SEC that required companies to publicly disclose financial statements and other information if they reached 500 or more individual shareholders.

  • The rule, in place from 1964 to 2012, was intended to prevent fraud, opacity and misinformation in the over-the-counter market.
  • Today, the shareholder threshold is 2000, mainly in response to the rapid growth of investment in technology start-ups, due to which the 500 limit was reached too quickly.