What are treasury shares?

Treasury shares refer to shares that have been issued by a corporation but are later reacquired by the same corporation. When a company buys back its own shares from the marketplace, these shares become treasury shares. They can be held for various reasons, such as to reduce the number of shares outstanding, to increase earnings per share, to provide shares for employee incentives, or to maintain control over the company.

These shares do not confer voting rights or the right to receive dividends while they are held in the treasury. They can be reissued or sold again in the market at a later date, but until that occurs, they are essentially held as treasury assets and do not affect the company's equity in the same way that outstanding shares do.

The other options describe different concepts: newly issued shares refer to those that have been created and sold for the first time, shares not yet paid for could refer to unissued shares pending payment, and shares that grant special voting rights relate to specific classes of shares rather than to treasury shares. Each of these options represents a distinct aspect of shares in a corporation, but they do not accurately define what treasury shares are.