Nonetheless, at least the first step, who "officially" owns a company, should be an easy one. Wickedpedia is rarely helpful with this (what a surprise). I am probably stating the obvious but since I just figured a way by accident, I thought I should share.
I am sure there are better ways, too.
And apologies to all financial minds out there who are going to laugh at my big discoveries. I know I am discovering hot water in your eyes, but I am an old-world financial illiterate and this is a big deal for me.

Of course if I am interpreting things the wrong way, please let me know. Thanks.
* * *
A good starting point is the list of the major 500 companies by revenue hosted on wicked: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... by_revenue
Is this list accurate? Hard to say. I have a feeling some of the richest and stronger groups will never be visible here. And I'm not just thinking about organized crime cartels, but also companies or agencies who have no interest to show up and structure their business in a way not to.
1) In the wicked list, or elsewhere, find the financial symbol for the company. For example the symbol for Exxon is "XOM".
2) Insert the symbol in yahoo finance lookup: http://finance.yahoo.com/lookup
3) On the page you find, click on "major holders" (bottom left).
You'll get the first five or ten individual names that hold the more shares of a given company, followed by the major institutional holders.
Here's a screenshot of the major holders of Coca-cola:
As you can see, to figure it out one has to dig a little deeper than the first individual names.
Look at "Berkshire Hathaway", they have 400,000,000 shares of Coca cola. Now, who owns that institution?
Oh, darn: it's Warren Buffett!

Interesting things are discovered this way. For example, the major holder of Disney, Exxon, Walmart and Monsanto (names I looked up randomly) is The Vanguard Group, Inc. (who also is the second major holder of Coca-cola).
But this fact is not at all mentioned on the wickedpedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vanguard_Group
Now, I know that this Vanguard group is an investment company, thus those shares are bought with the money of the investors that are countless individuals. Nonetheless, am I wrong in saying that it is the mutual fund company that actually holds the shares, and as such it is such company that ultimately can influence the behavior of the corporation?
And if so, wouldn't an investment company be the best way to hide real power and real control?
Anyway, with this Vanguard Group I'm stuck. It doesn't appear to be listed with the others and I don't know if there is a way to know who owns it.
