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vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Ownership_of_stock"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Ownership of stock</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Ownership_of_stock-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Form_of_organization" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Form_of_organization"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Form of organization</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Form_of_organization-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Reporting_obligations_and_restrictions" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Reporting_obligations_and_restrictions"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Reporting obligations and restrictions</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Reporting_obligations_and_restrictions-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Privately_owned_enterprise" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Privately_owned_enterprise"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Privately owned enterprise</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Privately_owned_enterprise-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Privately owned enterprise subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Privately_owned_enterprise-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Types_of_privately_owned_businesses" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Types_of_privately_owned_businesses"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.1</span> <span>Types of privately owned businesses</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Types_of_privately_owned_businesses-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Close_companies" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Close_companies"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.2</span> <span>Close companies</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Close_companies-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Privately held company</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 39 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-39" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">39 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-af mw-list-item"><a href="https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privaat_maatskappy" title="Privaat maatskappy – Afrikaans" lang="af" hreflang="af" data-title="Privaat maatskappy" data-language-autonym="Afrikaans" data-language-local-name="Afrikaans" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Afrikaans</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A9_%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%A9" title="شركة خاصة – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="شركة خاصة" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-azb mw-list-item"><a href="https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%A4%D8%B2%D9%84_%D8%B4%DB%8C%D8%B1%DA%A9%D8%AA" title="اؤزل شیرکت – South Azerbaijani" lang="azb" hreflang="azb" data-title="اؤزل شیرکت" data-language-autonym="تۆرکجه" data-language-local-name="South Azerbaijani" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>تۆرکجه</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bn mw-list-item"><a href="https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%87_%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B7%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A0%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A4_%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BF" title="বেসরকারিভাবে প্রতিষ্ঠিত কোম্পানি – Bangla" lang="bn" hreflang="bn" data-title="বেসরকারিভাবে প্রতিষ্ঠিত কোম্পানি" data-language-autonym="বাংলা" data-language-local-name="Bangla" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>বাংলা</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empresa_privada" title="Empresa privada – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Empresa privada" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-et mw-list-item"><a href="https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eraettev%C3%B5te" title="Eraettevõte – Estonian" lang="et" hreflang="et" data-title="Eraettevõte" data-language-autonym="Eesti" data-language-local-name="Estonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Eesti</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empresa_privada" title="Empresa privada – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Empresa privada" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privata_firmao" title="Privata firmao – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Privata firmao" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eu mw-list-item"><a href="https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enpresa_pribatu" title="Enpresa pribatu – Basque" lang="eu" hreflang="eu" data-title="Enpresa pribatu" data-language-autonym="Euskara" data-language-local-name="Basque" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Euskara</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B4%D8%B1%DA%A9%D8%AA_%D8%B3%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C_%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B5" title="شرکت سهامی خاص – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="شرکت سهامی خاص" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_priv%C3%A9e" title="Société privée – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Société privée" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%B9%84%EA%B3%B5%EA%B0%9C_%ED%9A%8C%EC%82%AC" title="비공개 회사 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="비공개 회사" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hi mw-list-item"><a href="https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%9C%E0%A5%80_%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%80" title="निजी कंपनी – Hindi" lang="hi" hreflang="hi" data-title="निजी कंपनी" data-language-autonym="हिन्दी" data-language-local-name="Hindi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>हिन्दी</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-id mw-list-item"><a href="https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perusahaan_swasta" title="Perusahaan swasta – Indonesian" lang="id" hreflang="id" data-title="Perusahaan swasta" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Indonesia" data-language-local-name="Indonesian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Indonesia</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zu mw-list-item"><a href="https://zu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkampani_esisulu" title="Inkampani esisulu – Zulu" lang="zu" hreflang="zu" data-title="Inkampani esisulu" data-language-autonym="IsiZulu" data-language-local-name="Zulu" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>IsiZulu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azienda_privata" title="Azienda privata – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Azienda privata" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%97%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%94_%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%98%D7%99%D7%AA" title="חברה פרטית – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="חברה פרטית" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>עברית</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kn mw-list-item"><a href="https://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%96%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%B8%E0%B2%97%E0%B2%BF_%E0%B2%95%E0%B2%82%E0%B2%AA%E0%B2%A8%E0%B2%BF" title="ಖಾಸಗಿ ಕಂಪನಿ – Kannada" lang="kn" hreflang="kn" data-title="ಖಾಸಗಿ ಕಂಪನಿ" data-language-autonym="ಕನ್ನಡ" data-language-local-name="Kannada" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ಕನ್ನಡ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ka mw-list-item"><a href="https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%99%E1%83%94%E1%83%A0%E1%83%AB%E1%83%9D_%E1%83%99%E1%83%9D%E1%83%9B%E1%83%9E%E1%83%90%E1%83%9C%E1%83%98%E1%83%90" title="კერძო კომპანია – Georgian" lang="ka" hreflang="ka" data-title="კერძო კომპანია" data-language-autonym="ქართული" data-language-local-name="Georgian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ქართული</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kk mw-list-item"><a href="https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%96%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B5_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F" title="Жеке компания – Kazakh" lang="kk" hreflang="kk" data-title="Жеке компания" data-language-autonym="Қазақша" data-language-local-name="Kazakh" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Қазақша</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ml mw-list-item"><a href="https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B4%B8%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B5%E0%B4%95%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%B0%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%AF_%E0%B4%89%E0%B4%9F%E0%B4%AE%E0%B4%B8%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%A5%E0%B4%A4%E0%B4%AF%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%B2%E0%B5%81%E0%B4%B3%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B3_%E0%B4%95%E0%B4%AE%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%AA%E0%B4%A8%E0%B4%BF" title="സ്വകാര്യ ഉടമസ്ഥതയിലുള്ള കമ്പനി – Malayalam" lang="ml" hreflang="ml" data-title="സ്വകാര്യ ഉടമസ്ഥതയിലുള്ള കമ്പനി" data-language-autonym="മലയാളം" data-language-local-name="Malayalam" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>മലയാളം</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mr badge-Q70893996 mw-list-item" title=""><a href="https://mr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%96%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%9C%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%80_%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%9A%E0%A5%80_%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%80" title="खाजगी मालकीची कंपनी – Marathi" lang="mr" hreflang="mr" data-title="खाजगी मालकीची कंपनी" data-language-autonym="मराठी" data-language-local-name="Marathi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>मराठी</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ms mw-list-item"><a href="https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syarikat_swasta" title="Syarikat swasta – Malay" lang="ms" hreflang="ms" data-title="Syarikat swasta" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Melayu" data-language-local-name="Malay" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Melayu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ne mw-list-item"><a href="https://ne.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%87%E0%A4%AD%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%9F_%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A1_%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%80" title="प्राइभेट लिमिटेड कम्पनी – Nepali" lang="ne" hreflang="ne" data-title="प्राइभेट लिमिटेड कम्पनी" data-language-autonym="नेपाली" data-language-local-name="Nepali" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>नेपाली</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9D%9E%E5%85%AC%E9%96%8B%E4%BC%9A%E7%A4%BE" title="非公開会社 – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="非公開会社" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pa mw-list-item"><a href="https://pa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A8%A8%E0%A8%BF%E0%A9%B1%E0%A8%9C%E0%A9%80_%E0%A8%95%E0%A9%B0%E0%A8%AA%E0%A8%A8%E0%A9%80" title="ਨਿੱਜੀ ਕੰਪਨੀ – Punjabi" lang="pa" hreflang="pa" data-title="ਨਿੱਜੀ ਕੰਪਨੀ" data-language-autonym="ਪੰਜਾਬੀ" data-language-local-name="Punjabi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ਪੰਜਾਬੀ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empresa_privada" title="Empresa privada – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Empresa privada" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ro mw-list-item"><a href="https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companie_privat%C4%83" title="Companie privată – Romanian" lang="ro" hreflang="ro" data-title="Companie privată" data-language-autonym="Română" data-language-local-name="Romanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Română</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A7%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F" title="Частная компания – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Частная компания" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_company" title="Private company – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="Private company" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Simple English</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ckb mw-list-item"><a href="https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DA%A9%DB%86%D9%85%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%A7%DB%8C_%D8%AA%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A8%DB%95%D8%AA" title="کۆمپانیای تایبەت – Central Kurdish" lang="ckb" hreflang="ckb" data-title="کۆمپانیای تایبەت" data-language-autonym="کوردی" data-language-local-name="Central Kurdish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>کوردی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sr mw-list-item"><a href="https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%BE_%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%9B%D0%B5" title="Приватно предузеће – Serbian" lang="sr" hreflang="sr" data-title="Приватно предузеће" data-language-autonym="Српски / srpski" data-language-local-name="Serbian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Српски / srpski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listaamaton_yhti%C3%B6" title="Listaamaton yhtiö – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Listaamaton yhtiö" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ta mw-list-item"><a href="https://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%A9%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%A9%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D" title="தனியார் நிறுவனம் – Tamil" lang="ta" hreflang="ta" data-title="தனியார் நிறுவனம்" data-language-autonym="தமிழ்" data-language-local-name="Tamil" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>தமிழ்</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tg mw-list-item"><a href="https://tg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A8%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8_%D1%85%D1%83%D1%81%D1%83%D1%81%D3%A3" title="Ширкати хусусӣ – Tajik" lang="tg" hreflang="tg" data-title="Ширкати хусусӣ" data-language-autonym="Тоҷикӣ" data-language-local-name="Tajik" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Тоҷикӣ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96zel_%C5%9Firket" title="Özel şirket – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Özel şirket" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" 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.hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">"Independent company" redirects here. For the type of military unit, see <a href="/wiki/Independent_company_(military)" class="mw-redirect" title="Independent company (military)">Independent company (military)</a>.</div> <div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Business which is not publicly traded</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1248332772">.mw-parser-output .multiple-issues-text{width:95%;margin:0.2em 0}.mw-parser-output .multiple-issues-text>.mw-collapsible-content{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox{border:none;border-collapse:collapse;background-color:transparent;margin:0 0 0 1.6em!important;padding:0!important;width:auto;display:block}body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox.mbox-small-left{font-size:100%;width:auto;margin:0}.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-text{padding:0!important;margin:0!important}.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-text-span{display:list-item;line-height:1.5em;list-style-type:disc}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .multiple-issues-text>.mw-collapsible-toggle,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-image,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-imageright,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-empty-cell,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .hide-when-compact{display:none}</style><table class="box-Multiple_issues plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-multiple_issues compact-ambox" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/40px-Ambox_important.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/60px-Ambox_important.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/80px-Ambox_important.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="40" data-file-height="40" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span"><div class="multiple-issues-text mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><b>This article has multiple issues.</b> Please help <b><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Privately_held_company" title="Special:EditPage/Privately held company">improve it</a></b> or discuss these issues on the <b><a href="/wiki/Talk:Privately_held_company" title="Talk:Privately held company">talk page</a></b>. <small><i>(<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove these messages</a>)</i></small> <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-More_citations_needed plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Privately_held_company" title="Special:EditPage/Privately held company">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.<br /><small><span class="plainlinks"><i>Find sources:</i> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?as_eq=wikipedia&q=%22Privately+held+company%22">"Privately held company"</a> – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=%22Privately+held+company%22+-wikipedia&tbs=ar:1">news</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?&q=%22Privately+held+company%22&tbs=bkt:s&tbm=bks">newspapers</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&q=%22Privately+held+company%22+-wikipedia">books</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Privately+held+company%22">scholar</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=%22Privately+held+company%22&acc=on&wc=on">JSTOR</a></span></small></span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">January 2021</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Globalize plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-globalize" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="Globe icon." src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Ambox_globe_content.svg/48px-Ambox_globe_content.svg.png" decoding="async" width="48" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Ambox_globe_content.svg/73px-Ambox_globe_content.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Ambox_globe_content.svg/97px-Ambox_globe_content.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="350" data-file-height="290" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">The examples and perspective in this article <b>deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Countering_systemic_bias" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias">worldwide view</a> of the subject</b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> You may <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Privately_held_company&action=edit">improve this article</a>, discuss the issue on the <a href="/wiki/Talk:Privately_held_company" title="Talk:Privately held company">talk page</a>, or <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_wizard" title="Wikipedia:Article 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.mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}</style><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1246091330"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1246091330"><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks vcard hlist"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-pretitle">This article is part of <a href="/wiki/Category:Corporate_law" title="Category:Corporate law">a series</a> on</td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-title-with-pretitle"><a href="/wiki/Corporate_law" title="Corporate law">Corporate law</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Society.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Society.svg/200px-Society.svg.png" decoding="async" width="200" height="79" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Society.svg/300px-Society.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Society.svg/400px-Society.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="96" data-file-height="38" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center; background:lavender; line-height:130%; padding:0.3em 0em;;color: var(--color-base)">By jurisdiction</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Anguillan_company_law" title="Anguillan company law">Anguilla</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Australian_corporate_law" title="Australian corporate law">Australia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/British_Virgin_Islands_company_law" title="British Virgin Islands company law">BVI</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Canadian_corporate_law" title="Canadian corporate law">Canada</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cayman_Islands_company_law" title="Cayman Islands company law">Cayman Islands</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Indian_company_law" title="Indian company law">India</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/South_African_company_law" title="South African company law">South Africa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/United_Kingdom_company_law" title="United Kingdom company law">UK</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/United_States_corporate_law" title="United States corporate law">United States</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Corporate_law_in_Vietnam" title="Corporate law in Vietnam">Vietnam</a></li> <li><br /><a href="/wiki/European_corporate_law" class="mw-redirect" title="European corporate law">European Union</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/French_company_law" title="French company law">France</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/German_company_law" title="German company law">Germany</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center; background:lavender; line-height:130%; padding:0.3em 0em;;color: var(--color-base)">General corporate forms</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Company" title="Company">Company</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conglomerate_(company)" title="Conglomerate (company)">Conglomerate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cooperative" title="Cooperative">Cooperative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Corporation" title="Corporation">Corporation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Holding_company" title="Holding company">Holding company</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Joint-stock_company" title="Joint-stock company">Joint-stock</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Partnership" title="Partnership">Partnership</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/General_partnership" title="General partnership">General</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Limited_partnership" title="Limited partnership">Limited</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Limited_liability_partnership" title="Limited liability partnership">Limited liability</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Private_limited_company" title="Private limited company">Private limited</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Shell_corporation" title="Shell corporation">Shell corporation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Shelf_corporation" title="Shelf corporation">Shelf corporation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sole_proprietorship" title="Sole proprietorship">Sole proprietorship</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center; background:lavender; line-height:130%; padding:0.3em 0em;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/List_of_legal_entity_types_by_country" title="List of legal entity types by country">Corporate forms<br />by jurisdiction</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks" style="background-color: transparent; color: var( --color-base ); border-collapse:collapse; border-spacing:0px; border:none; width:100%; margin:0px; font-size:100%; clear:none; float:none"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <a href="/wiki/European_corporate_law" class="mw-redirect" title="European corporate law">European Union</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="border-bottom:#ccc 1px solid"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Societas_Europaea" title="Societas Europaea"><i>Societas</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(SE)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Societas_cooperativa_Europaea" title="Societas cooperativa Europaea"><i>Societas cooperativa</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(SCE)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Societas_privata_Europaea" title="Societas privata Europaea"><i>Societas privata</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(SPE)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Societas_unius_personae" title="Societas unius personae"><i>Societas unius personae</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(SUP)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/European_economic_interest_grouping" title="European economic interest grouping">Economic interest grouping <span style="font-size:85%;">(EEIG)</span></a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <span class="nowrap">UK / Ireland / Commonwealth</span></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="border-bottom:#ccc 1px solid"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Charitable_incorporated_organisation" title="Charitable incorporated organisation">Charitable incorporated organisation (England and Wales) <span style="font-size:85%;">(CIO)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scottish_charitable_incorporated_organisation" title="Scottish charitable incorporated organisation">Scottish charitable incorporated organisation <span style="font-size:85%;">(SCIO)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Community_interest_company" title="Community interest company">Community interest company <span style="font-size:85%;">(CIC)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Industrial_and_provident_society" title="Industrial and provident society">Industrial and provident society <span style="font-size:85%;">(IPS)</span></a></li> <li><br /><a href="/wiki/Limited_company" title="Limited company">Limited company <span style="font-size:85%;">(Ltd.)</span></a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Private_company_limited_by_guarantee" class="mw-redirect" title="Private company limited by guarantee">by guarantee</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Private_company_limited_by_shares" title="Private company limited by shares">by shares</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proprietary_company" title="Proprietary company">proprietary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Public_limited_company" title="Public limited company">public</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Unlimited_company" title="Unlimited company">Unlimited company</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> United States</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="border-bottom:#ccc 1px solid"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Benefit_corporation" title="Benefit corporation">Benefit corporation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/C_corporation" title="C corporation">C corporation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Limited_liability_company" title="Limited liability company">Limited liability company <span style="font-size:85%;">(LLC)</span></a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Low-profit_limited_liability_company" title="Low-profit limited liability company">Low-profit LLC</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Series_LLC" title="Series LLC">Series LLC</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Limited_liability_limited_partnership" title="Limited liability limited partnership">Limited liability limited partnership <span style="font-size:85%;">(LLLP)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/S_corporation" title="S corporation">S corporation</a></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/Delaware_General_Corporation_Law" title="Delaware General Corporation Law">Delaware corporation</a> / <a href="/wiki/Delaware_statutory_trust" title="Delaware statutory trust">statutory trust</a></span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Massachusetts_business_trust" title="Massachusetts business trust">Massachusetts business trust</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nevada_corporation" title="Nevada corporation">Nevada corporation</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Others</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="border-bottom:#ccc 1px solid"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Aktiebolag" title="Aktiebolag"><i>Aktiebolag</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(AB)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aktiengesellschaft" title="Aktiengesellschaft"><i>Aktiengesellschaft</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(AG)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ansvarlig_selskap" title="Ansvarlig selskap"><i>Ansvarlig selskap</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(ANS)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aktieselskab" title="Aktieselskab"><i>Aktieselskab</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(A/S)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aksjeselskap" title="Aksjeselskap"><i>Aksjeselskap</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(AS)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gesellschaft_mit_beschr%C3%A4nkter_Haftung" class="mw-redirect" title="Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung"><i>Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(GmbH)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kabushiki_gaisha" title="Kabushiki gaisha"><i>Kabushiki gaisha</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(K.K.)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Naamloze_vennootschap" title="Naamloze vennootschap"><i>Naamloze vennootschap</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(N.V.)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Osakeyhti%C3%B6" title="Osakeyhtiö"><i>Osakeyhtiö</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(Oy)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/S.A._(corporation)" title="S.A. (corporation)">S.A.</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_%C3%A0_responsabilit%C3%A9_limit%C3%A9e" title="Société à responsabilité limitée"><i>Société à responsabilité limitée</i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(SARL)</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Types_of_business_entity" class="mw-redirect" title="Types of business entity">more...</a></li></ul></td> </tr></tbody></table></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center; background:lavender; line-height:130%; padding:0.3em 0em;;color: var(--color-base)">Doctrines</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Business_judgment_rule" title="Business judgment rule">Business judgment rule</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Corporate_governance" title="Corporate governance">Corporate governance</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/De_facto_corporation_and_corporation_by_estoppel" title="De facto corporation and corporation by estoppel"><i>De facto</i> and estoppel corporations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Internal_affairs_doctrine" title="Internal affairs doctrine">Internal affairs doctrine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Limited_liability" title="Limited liability">Limited liability</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tag-along_right" title="Tag-along right">Tag-along right</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Drag-along_right" title="Drag-along right">Drag-along right</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Piercing_the_corporate_veil" title="Piercing the corporate veil">Piercing the corporate veil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rochdale_Principles" title="Rochdale Principles">Rochdale Principles</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Ultra_vires" title="Ultra vires">Ultra vires</a></i></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center; background:lavender; line-height:130%; padding:0.3em 0em;;color: var(--color-base)">Related areas</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Beneficial_ownership" title="Beneficial ownership">Beneficial ownership</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Civil_procedure" title="Civil procedure">Civil procedure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Contract" title="Contract">Contract</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_company_registers" class="mw-redirect" title="List of company registers">Corporate registers</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Registered_agent" title="Registered agent">Registered agent</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-below"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Portal:Companies" title="Portal:Companies">Company portal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Portal:Law" title="Portal:Law">Law portal</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Corporate_law" title="Template:Corporate law"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Corporate_law" title="Template talk:Corporate law"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Corporate_law" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Corporate law"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>A <b>privately held company</b> (or simply a <b>private company</b>) is a company whose <a href="/wiki/Stock" title="Stock">shares</a> and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the <a href="/wiki/Private_equity" title="Private equity">company's stock</a> is offered, owned, traded or exchanged privately, also known as "<a href="/wiki/Over-the-counter_(finance)" title="Over-the-counter (finance)">over-the-counter</a>". Related terms are <b>unlisted organisation</b>, <b>unquoted company</b> and <b>private equity</b>. </p><p>Private companies are often less well-known than their <a href="/wiki/Public_company" title="Public company">publicly traded</a> counterparts but still have major importance in the world's <a href="/wiki/Economy" title="Economy">economy</a>. For example, in 2008, the 441 <a href="/wiki/List_of_largest_private_non-governmental_companies_by_revenue" title="List of largest private non-governmental companies by revenue">largest private companies</a> in the <a href="/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a> accounted for $1.8 trillion in revenues and employed 6.2 million people, according to <i>Forbes</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Separately, all non-government-owned companies are considered <b>private enterprises</b>. That meaning includes both publicly traded and privately held companies since their investors are individuals. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="State,_private,_and_cooperative_ownership"><span id="State.2C_private.2C_and_cooperative_ownership"></span>State, private, and cooperative ownership</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Privately_held_company&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: State, private, and cooperative ownership"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Private ownership of productive assets differs from <a href="/wiki/State_ownership" title="State ownership">state ownership</a> or <a href="/wiki/Collective_ownership" title="Collective ownership">collective ownership</a> (as in worker-owned companies). This usage is often found in former <a href="/wiki/Eastern_Bloc" title="Eastern Bloc">Eastern Bloc</a> countries to differentiate from former <a href="/wiki/State-owned_enterprises" class="mw-redirect" title="State-owned enterprises">state-owned enterprises</a>,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2007)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> but it may be used anywhere in contrast to a state-owned or a collectively owned company. </p><p>In the <a href="/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a>, a privately held company refers to a business entity owned by private stakeholders, investors, or company founders, and its shares are not available for public purchase on stock exchanges. That contrasts with public companies, whose shares are publicly traded, which allows investing by the general public. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Ownership_of_stock">Ownership of stock</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Privately_held_company&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Ownership of stock"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Unreferenced_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Unreferenced" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>does not <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">cite</a> any <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">sources</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Privately_held_company" title="Special:EditPage/Privately held company">improve this section</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">removed</a>.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">August 2016</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>In countries with public trading markets, a privately held business is generally taken to mean one whose ownership <a href="/wiki/Share_(finance)" title="Share (finance)">shares</a> or interests are not publicly traded. Often, privately held companies are owned by the company founders or their families and heirs or by a small group of investors. Sometimes, employees also hold shares in private companies.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources"><span title="This citation requires a reference to the specific page or range of pages in which the material appears. (December 2014)">page needed</span></a></i>]</sup> Most <a href="/wiki/Small_businesses" class="mw-redirect" title="Small businesses">small businesses</a> are privately held. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Subsidiary" title="Subsidiary">Subsidiaries</a> and <a href="/wiki/Joint_ventures" class="mw-redirect" title="Joint ventures">joint ventures</a> of <a href="/wiki/Public_company" title="Public company">publicly traded companies</a> (for example, <a href="/wiki/General_Motors" title="General Motors">General Motors</a>' <a href="/wiki/Saturn_Corporation" title="Saturn Corporation">Saturn Corporation</a>), unless shares in the subsidiary itself are traded directly, have characteristics of both privately held companies and publicly traded companies. Such companies are usually subject to the same reporting requirements as privately held companies, but their assets, liabilities, and activities are also including the reports of their <a href="/wiki/Holding_company" title="Holding company">parent companies</a>, as are required by the accountancy and securities industry rules relating to groups of companies. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Form_of_organization">Form of organization</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Privately_held_company&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Form of organization"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/List_of_legal_entity_types_by_country" title="List of legal entity types by country">List of legal entity types by country</a></div><p> Private companies may be called <a href="/wiki/Corporation" title="Corporation">corporations</a>, <a href="/wiki/Limited_company" title="Limited company">limited companies</a>, <a href="/wiki/Limited_liability_company" title="Limited liability company">limited liability companies</a>, <a href="/wiki/Unlimited_company" title="Unlimited company">unlimited companies</a>, or other names, depending on where and how they are organized and structured. In the United States but not generally in the <a href="/wiki/United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom">United Kingdom</a>, the term is also extended to <a href="/wiki/Partnerships" class="mw-redirect" title="Partnerships">partnerships</a>, <a href="/wiki/Sole_proprietorships" class="mw-redirect" title="Sole proprietorships">sole proprietorships</a> or <a href="/wiki/Trust_(business)" title="Trust (business)">business trusts</a>. Each of those categories may have additional requirements and restrictions that may impact reporting requirements, income tax liabilities, governmental obligations, employee relations, marketing opportunities, and other business obligations and decisions.<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"></p><table class="box-Unreferenced_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Unreferenced" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>does not <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">cite</a> any <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">sources</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Privately_held_company" title="Special:EditPage/Privately held company">improve this section</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">removed</a>.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">April 2023</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><p> In many countries, there are forms of organization that are restricted to and are commonly used by private companies, for example, the <a href="/wiki/Private_company_limited_by_shares" title="Private company limited by shares">private company limited by shares</a> in the United Kingdom (abbreviated <i>Ltd</i>) or <a href="/wiki/Unlimited_company" title="Unlimited company">unlimited company</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Proprietary_limited_company" class="mw-redirect" title="Proprietary limited company">proprietary limited company</a> (abbreviated <i>Pty Ltd</i>) or <a href="/wiki/Unlimited_company" title="Unlimited company">unlimited proprietary company</a> (abbreviated <i>Pty</i>) in <a href="/wiki/South_Africa" title="South Africa">South Africa</a> and <a href="/wiki/Australia" title="Australia">Australia</a>.<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"></p><table class="box-Unreferenced_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Unreferenced" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>does not <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">cite</a> any <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">sources</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Privately_held_company" title="Special:EditPage/Privately held company">improve this section</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">removed</a>.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">April 2023</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>In <a href="/wiki/India" title="India">India</a>, private companies are registered by the <a href="/wiki/Registrar_of_Companies_(India)" title="Registrar of Companies (India)">Registrar of Companies</a>, which is under the <a href="/wiki/Ministry_of_Corporate_Affairs" title="Ministry of Corporate Affairs">Ministry of Corporate Affairs</a>. Indian private companies must contain the word Private Limited at the end of their names.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Reporting_obligations_and_restrictions">Reporting obligations and restrictions</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Privately_held_company&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Reporting obligations and restrictions"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Privately held companies generally have fewer or less comprehensive reporting requirements and obligations for <a href="/wiki/Transparency_(humanities)" class="mw-redirect" title="Transparency (humanities)">transparency</a>, via annual reports, etc. than publicly traded companies do. For example, in the United States, privately held companies are not generally required to publish their <a href="/wiki/Financial_statements" class="mw-redirect" title="Financial statements">financial statements</a>. By not being required to disclose details about their operations and financial outlook, private companies are not forced to disclose information that may potentially be valuable to competitors and so can avoid the immediate erosion of customer and stakeholder confidence in the event of financial duress. Further, with limited reporting requirements and shareholder expectations, private firms are afforded a greater operational flexibility by being able to focus on long-term growth rather than quarterly earnings. </p><p>In addition, private company executives may steer their ships without shareholder approval, which allows them to take significant action without delays.<sup id="cite_ref-PrivCo_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-PrivCo-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Library_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Library-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In Australia, Part 2E of the <i><a href="/wiki/Corporations_Act_2001" title="Corporations Act 2001">Corporations Act 2001</a></i> requires publicly traded companies to file certain documents relating to their <a href="/wiki/Annual_general_meeting" title="Annual general meeting">annual general meeting</a> with the <a href="/wiki/Australian_Securities_and_Investments_Commission" title="Australian Securities and Investments Commission">Australian Securities and Investments Commission</a> (ASIC). There is a similar requirement for large proprietary companies, which are required to lodge Form 388H to the ASIC containing their financial report. In the United States, private companies are held to different accounting auditing standards than public companies, overseen by the Private Company Counsel division of the <a href="/wiki/Financial_Accounting_Standards_Board" title="Financial Accounting Standards Board">Financial Accounting Standards Board</a>.<sup>(see <a href="#External_links">external links</a>)</sup> </p><p>Researching private companies and private companies' financials in the United States can involve contacting the <a href="/wiki/Secretary_of_state_(U.S._state_government)" title="Secretary of state (U.S. state government)">secretary of state</a> for the <a href="/wiki/U.S._state" title="U.S. state">U.S. state</a> of incorporation (or for LLC or partnership, state of formation), or using specialized private company databases such as <a href="/wiki/Dun_%26_Bradstreet" title="Dun & Bradstreet">Dun & Bradstreet</a>. Other companies, like <a href="/wiki/Sageworks" title="Sageworks">Sageworks</a>, provide aggregated data on privately held companies, segmented by industry code.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> By contrast, in the United Kingdom, all incorporated companies are registered centrally with <a href="/wiki/Companies_House" title="Companies House">Companies House</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Privately held companies also sometimes have restrictions on how many <a href="/wiki/Shareholders" class="mw-redirect" title="Shareholders">shareholders</a> they may have. For example, the U.S. <a href="/wiki/Securities_Exchange_Act_of_1934" title="Securities Exchange Act of 1934">Securities Exchange Act of 1934</a>, section 12(g), limits a privately held company, generally, to fewer than 2000 shareholders, and the U.S. <a href="/wiki/Investment_Company_Act_of_1940" title="Investment Company Act of 1940">Investment Company Act of 1940</a>, requires registration of investment companies that have more than 100 holders. In Australia, section 113 of the <i>Corporations Act 2001</i> limits a privately held company to 50 non-employee shareholders. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Privately_owned_enterprise">Privately owned enterprise</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Privately_held_company&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Privately owned enterprise"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Unreferenced_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Unreferenced" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>does not <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">cite</a> any <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">sources</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Privately_held_company" title="Special:EditPage/Privately held company">improve this section</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">removed</a>.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">January 2021</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>A <b>privately owned enterprise</b> is a commercial enterprise owned by private investors, shareholders or owners (usually <a href="/wiki/Corporation" title="Corporation">collectively</a>, but they can be owned by a <a href="/wiki/Sole_proprietorship" title="Sole proprietorship">single individual</a>), and is in contrast to state institutions, such as <a href="/wiki/State-owned_enterprise" title="State-owned enterprise">publicly owned enterprises</a> and <a href="/wiki/Government_agency" title="Government agency">government agencies</a>. Private enterprises comprise the <a href="/wiki/Private_sector" title="Private sector">private sector</a> of an economy. An economic system that 1) contains a large private sector where privately run businesses are the backbone of the economy, and 2) a business surplus is controlled by the owners, is referred to as <a href="/wiki/Capitalism" title="Capitalism">capitalism</a>. This contrasts with <a href="/wiki/Socialism" title="Socialism">socialism</a>, where the industry is owned by the <a href="/wiki/Public_sector" title="Public sector">state</a> or by all of the community in common. The act of taking assets into the private sector is referred to as <a href="/wiki/Privatization" title="Privatization">privatization</a>. </p><p>A privately owned enterprise is one form that <a href="/wiki/Private_property" title="Private property">private property</a> may take. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Types_of_privately_owned_businesses">Types of privately owned businesses</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Privately_held_company&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Types of privately owned businesses"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Unreferenced_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Unreferenced" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>does not <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">cite</a> any <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">sources</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Privately_held_company" title="Special:EditPage/Privately held company">improve this section</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">removed</a>.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">August 2016</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <ul><li><b>Sole proprietorship:</b> A <a href="/wiki/Sole_proprietorship" title="Sole proprietorship">sole proprietorship</a> is a business owned by one person. The owner may operate on his or her own or may employ others. The owner of the business has total and unlimited personal <a href="/wiki/Legal_liability" title="Legal liability">liability</a> for the debts incurred by the business. This form is usually relegated to small businesses.</li> <li><b>Partnership:</b> A <a href="/wiki/Partnership" title="Partnership">partnership</a> is a form of business in which two or more people operate for the common goal of making a profit. Each partner has total and unlimited personal liability for the debts incurred by the partnership. There are three typical different types of classifications for partnerships: <a href="/wiki/General_partnership" title="General partnership">general partnerships</a>, <a href="/wiki/Limited_partnership" title="Limited partnership">limited partnerships</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Limited_liability_partnership" title="Limited liability partnership">limited liability partnerships</a>.</li> <li><b>Corporation:</b> A business <a href="/wiki/Corporation" title="Corporation">corporation</a> is a for-profit, <a href="/wiki/Limited_liability" title="Limited liability">limited liability</a> or <a href="/wiki/Unlimited_company" title="Unlimited company">unlimited liability</a> entity that has a separate <a href="/wiki/Legal_personality" class="mw-redirect" title="Legal personality">legal personality</a> from its members. A corporation is owned by one or more <a href="/wiki/Shareholder" title="Shareholder">shareholders</a> and is overseen by a <a href="/wiki/Board_of_directors" title="Board of directors">board of directors</a>, which hires the business's managerial staff. Corporate models have also been applied to the state sector in the form of <a href="/wiki/State_Enterprise" class="mw-redirect" title="State Enterprise">government-owned corporations</a>. A corporation may be privately held (for example, a close company - see below) or publicly traded.</li> <li><b>Hybrid Types:</b> Some countries, like Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom have created a hybrid type of entity that has characteristics of both a corporation and a partnership. In Germany, it is called a <span title="German-language text"><i lang="de">Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung</i></span> (Gmbh), in the United States it is called a Limited Liability Company (LLC), and in the United Kingdom it is called a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP). It is considered a corporate body similar to a corporation but is typically taxed like a partnership.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Close_companies">Close companies</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Privately_held_company&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Close companies"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In the United Kingdom, a <b>close</b> or <b>closely held</b> company is defined as a company which is controlled by either five or fewer shareholders or is controlled by shareholders who are also directors.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Privately_held_company&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Limited_company" title="Limited company">Limited company</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Private_company_limited_by_shares" title="Private company limited by shares">Private company limited by shares</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Private_equity" title="Private equity">Private equity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Public_company" title="Public company">Public company</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Unlisted_public_company" title="Unlisted public company">Unlisted public company</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Privately_held_company&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div 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no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFReifman,_ShlomoMurphy,_Andrea_D.2008" class="citation news cs1">Reifman, Shlomo; Murphy, Andrea D., eds. 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Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2011-03-11</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Private+Company+Knowledge+Bank&rft.atitle=Introduction+to+Private+Companies&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.privco.com%2Fknowledge-bank%2Fintro-to-private-companies&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3APrivately+held+company" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Library-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Library_5-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.loc.gov/rr/business/company/private.html">"Private Company Research"</a>. <i>Business Reference Services</i>. <a href="/wiki/Library_of_Congress" title="Library of Congress">Library of Congress</a>. 10 Jan 2013. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190221203601/http://www.loc.gov/rr/business/company/private.html">Archived</a> from the original on 21 February 2019<span class="reference-accessdate">. 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