A public company is a company owned by the public rather than by a relatively few individuals. There are two different meanings for this term:

• A company that is owned by stockholders who are members of the general public and trade shares publicly, often through a listing on a stock exchange. Ownership is open to anyone that has the money and inclination to buy shares in the company. It is differentiated from privately held companies where the shares are held by a small group of individuals, who are often members of one or a small group of families or otherwise related individuals, or other companies. The variant of this type of company in the United Kingdom and Ireland is known as a public limited company.
• A government-owned corporation. This meaning of a "public company" comes from the tradition of public ownership of assets and interests by and for the people as a whole, and is the less-common meaning in the United States. See public ownership.

"Publicly-owned company" can also have either meaning, although in the United Kingdom it will usually refer to ownership by national, regional or local government.

United States

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The de jure definition of a public company in the United States is defined as a public company is any company that files a Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and raises money from the public. A public company is also a reporting company. Thus, a public company is any company with 300 or more shareholders as defined in the US 1933 Securities Act that elects to become a reporting company. Under the US 1934 Act, any company with 500 or more public shareholders or a company with some public shareholders and assets of $5 million dollars must become a reporting company.

Public versus private companies

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A public company has several advantages. It is able to raise funds and capital through the sale of stock and convertible bonds. This is the reason why public corporations are so important, historically; prior to their existence, it was very difficult to obtain large amounts of capital for private enterprises. It has the ability to offer stock and stock options to directors, executives, and employees as part of compensation. This is much less advantageous if the company is required to treat stock options as an expense. Large stockholders, typically founders of the company, are able to sell off shares and get cash which they can put to other uses. In contrast, while ownership in a private corporation can also be sold, in part, determining a "fair value" that is acceptable to all parties can be difficult.

More on [ Public company ]

Company news - CNNMoney.com

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Read full story for latest details.

BBC News | Business | World Edition

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NYT > World Business

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Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:13:45 -0000
With large price increases for commonly used commodities, countries like India and Vietnam are already having to deal with double-digit inflation.
U.S. Offers a Subsidy Concession at Trade Talks
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BP Will Withdraw Its Engineers in Russia
Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:11:11 -0000
BP is fending off a corporate raid by its Russian partners backed by Russian regulatory authorities, a strategy to expel expatriate staff members from their joint venture.

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