Public company

(redirected from Publicly held corporation)
Also found in: Dictionary, Legal.

Related to Publicly held corporation: Public company, Publicly traded companies, Publicly traded

Public Company

A company that has held an initial public offering and whose shares are traded on a stock exchange or in the over-the-counter market. Public companies are subject to periodic filing and other obligations under the federal securities laws.

Public Limited Company

A primarily British term for a publicly-traded company. The term derives from the facts that the company issues shares that may be bought and sold by the general public and all shareholders have limited liability.

Publicly-Traded Company

A company issuing stocks, which are traded on the open market, either on a stock exchange or on the over-the-counter market. Individual and institutional shareholders constitute the owners of a publicly-traded company, in proportion to the amount of stock they own as a percentage of all outstanding stock. Thus, shareholders have final say in all decisions taken by a publicly-traded company and its managers, especially through its annual shareholders' meeting. Publicly-traded companies have greater access to financing than other companies, as they have the ability to issue more stock. However, they are subject to greater regulation: for example, they must file 10-K reports with the SEC on their earnings and they are more likely to be subject to corporate taxes. A publicly-traded company is also called a public company.

Public company.

The stock of a public company is owned and traded by individual and institutional investors.

In contrast, in a privately held company, the stock is held by company founders, management, employees, and sometimes venture capitalists.

Many privately held companies eventually go public to help raise capital to finance growth. Conversely, public companies can be taken private for a variety of reasons.

References in periodicals archive ?

Held Corporations Also Apply to Publicly Held Corporations

Taking free exercise the second mile: why Hobby Lobby fails to go far enough

The IRS apparently differentiates between public and private corporations because, with publicly held corporations, "the operation of the normal system of commercial checks and balances arguably is adequate to ensure a proper result so that review by the IRS generally is unnecessary." (11) Such analysis begs the question of what constitutes a "proper result" under [section] 162(a)(1).

Taxing unreasonable compensation: (section) 162(a)(1) and managerial power

Blair and Stout do not challenge this traditional account of the rationale for the corporate form of organization; nor could they--no one can dispute that the average publicly held corporation has a larger capitalization and operates at a larger scale than the average proprietorship, partnership, or closely held corporation.

The team production theory of corporate law: a critical assessment

Bailey, recent surveys indicate that the average board of a publicly held corporation consists of 12 to 15 members.

Directors and officers: only qualified need apply

Some of us have gone so far as to suggest that the traditional publicly held corporation owned by its shareholders and governed by managers accountable to independent directors is becoming obsolete.

Two tangles ahead: risk management and corporate governance

Under the plan, a recently-formed Minnesota corporation with the same name, Canterbury Park Holding Company has replaced the company as the publicly held corporation owned by the company's shareholders.

US Racetrack Owner Canterbury Park Completes Reorganisation

Hobby Lobby and Conestoga are closely held corporations, a term with a precise meaning under tax law - a publicly held corporation with many stockholders would probably never object to a government mandate on religious grounds, Alito wrote, and probably would not be entitled to one if it did.

The logic of Hobby Lobby

Electronic Systems Technology has been a publicly held corporation since 1984 and was the first to develop the wireless modem, receiving both the United States and Canadian patents for this technology.

-Electronic Systems Technology seeks replacement for VP of finance

Pope & Talbot, a publicly held corporation, owned properties in the state of Washington.

Calculating gain on corporate distributions

Example 20: A publicly held corporation ("D"), conducts

The new anti-Morris trust and intragroup spin provisions

Inland is a subsidiary of Temple-Inland, a publicly held corporation that, with revenues of $3.46 billion, ranked 360th on the Fortune 500 list.