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:
“You will belong to that minority which, according to current Washington doctrine, must be protected in its affluence lest its energy and initiative be impaired. Your position will be in contrast to that of the poor, to whom money, especially if it is from public sources, is held to be deeply damaging.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“I hate the prostitution of the name of friendship to signify modish and worldly alliances. I much prefer the company of ploughboys and tin-peddlers, to the silken and perfumed amity which celebrates its days of encounter by a frivolous display, by rides in a curricle, and dinners at the best taverns.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)