It's not a binary situation where you either own 51% or not. The larger the share of the company you own, the fewer stakeholders you need to convince to vote in

It's not a binary situation where you either own 51% or not. The larger the share of the company you own, the fewer stakeholders you need to convince to vote in your favor. e.g. having 49% equity only requires ~2% of remaining shareholders to agree with any of your decisions. If you're making remotely justifiable decisions, you're likely to get a decent chunk of shareholders supporting pretty much any position. Also it's common to stack the board with allies who you can trust to vote in your favor/support your decisions. So doesn't require much equity to have de facto control. But there will likely be a big difference in influence between, say, 10% and 20%