>‘Vanguard’ doesn’t own Pfizer, mutual fund holders who own vanguard funds own those shares
This. Vanguard owns stuff because they offer shares in passive (not controlled) funds that are cheap (% load) so regular people buy ‘em up in 401Ks.
It’s more accurate to say Vanguard broke the stranglehold on capital previously held by expensive, manipulative brokers and brokerages. Countermoves against the money people like the Gamestop craziness would never have been possible in a world where you had to ask your broker to place orders for you.
Elsewhere I’ve learned today Vanguard is using ‘its’ (our!) votes influentially:
https://about.vanguard.com/investment-stewardship/how-our-funds-voted/
Not good.