system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How would lowering a company's stock, one that you own shares in, make you money?

I see this on TV a lot, where a criminal gets a bunch of money by ruining a company's stock price even though they have shares in that company. Wouldn't they lose money if the stock price drops?
gpt
Here's the ELI5 for short selling:  
  
When you short something, you borrow it and then buy it back.  For example, say there's a bar of gold worth $2000.  You borrow it and immediately sell it for $2000.  A few days later the price of gold drops and you buy it back for $1995.  You now give back the bar of gold that you borrowed.  Since you paid $1995 and sold it for $2000, you  made a $5 profit.  
  
If you don't know the price will drop, this can be risky.  Say you borrow the bar and sell it for $2000.  Now the price rises to $3000.  After some time, the guy you borrowed it from wants it back.  You're force to pay $3000 for a new bar of gold so that you can give it back.  That's a loss of $1000.