Imagine ranking all the shareholders of the company. For each, you've asked them how much you'd have to give them to convince them to sell.
At the top of the list would be the one who is the most interested in selling, and thus is willing to take the lowest price. At the bottom of the list would be the person who is the least interested in selling, and is demanding the highest price.
In order to buy one share you ask the guy at the top of the list. But to get the whole company you need the guy at the bottom of the list to agree too.
That's definitely not a perfect analogy at all, there's more subtlety than that. But it accurately describes the underlying dynamic.
For the stock market quote, you're always talking about the guy at the top of the list.
But I think you’re spot-on. If someone owns the stock, usually it’s because they think the company is worth more in the future than it is currently.
And you need to convince the majority of the shareholders to sell it to you now.
So you need to take into account their expected future value on holding, and give them a reasonable risk-adjusted premium for that expected future value of their shares.
At the top of the list would be the one who is the most interested in selling, and thus is willing to take the lowest price. At the bottom of the list would be the person who is the least interested in selling, and is demanding the highest price.
In order to buy one share you ask the guy at the top of the list. But to get the whole company you need the guy at the bottom of the list to agree too.
That's definitely not a perfect analogy at all, there's more subtlety than that. But it accurately describes the underlying dynamic.
For the stock market quote, you're always talking about the guy at the top of the list.