Hi all,

I'm new to investing, just playing around still. I have a very basic question I am hoping someone can answer. As I understand it, when a company decides to go public the shares are first traded by the underwriters, known as the primary market. When they eventually get traded on an exchange, this is known as the secondary market, correct? so, my very dumb question is, when a companies stock is bought or sold, who is getting that money and how? The company? The underwriter? Someone else? I know there is not a cut and dried answer to this but hopefully someone who knows a lot about this subject can see what I am trying to get at and at the very least give me a simple explanation. I just cant seem to wrap my head around all of this. Please help.

when a stock is going to ipo and you have a chance to buy it at the ipo price - that is considered primary market.. when it is public, thats considered secondary market

when a co does an ipo, they receive the money because they 'sold' a portion of their company and they give a % to the underwriters as their fee

when its in the secondary, its being bought and sold among buyers/sellers or vs. institutions making markets so its the buyer/seller making the money and the market makers making money. the company is no longer involved in that part