The squeeze-out institute was introduced into the Croatian legal system in 2003, in order to comply with EU law. It is the right of the main shareholder, who holds shares representing at least 95% of the share capital of the company, to take over the shares of the minority shareholders, i.e. to squeeze the minority shareholders out of the joint-stock company. In order to understand the purpose of this institute, the paper gives an overview of the management and property rights of the shareholders and the way they are exercised. It is understandable that interests of the main shareholder and the minority shareholders are not the same, and the squeeze-out institute seeks to reach a balance between them. Because membership in the company of the minority shareholders ceases against their will, a brief review of the squeeze-out institute from constitutional aspect is given. Also, to eliminate the possibility of identification with transfer of shares of minority shareholders from the Act on the takeover of joint-stock companies, a comparison of these two similar institutes is made. Finally, the effectiveness of the judicial protection of minority shareholders in this procedure is analysed, based on an example from the case law.