A public company, publicly traded company, publicly held company or public limited company (in the United Kingdom) is a limited liability company that offers its securities (stock/shares, bonds/loans, etc.) for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets. Public companies, including public limited companies, can be either unlisted or listed on a stock exchange depending on their size and local legislation.
Public companies are not to be confused with Government-owned corporations – also known as publicly owned companies – which are also sometimes called public companies.
Read more about Public Company: Securities of A Public Company, General Trend, Privatization, Trading and Valuation
Famous quotes containing the words public and/or company:
“Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“The old idea that the joke was not good enough for the company has been superseded by the new aristocratic idea that the company was not worthy of the joke. They have introduced an almost insane individualism into that one form of intercourse which is specially and uproariously communal. They have made even levities into secrets. They have made laughter lonelier than tears.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)