Company

A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether natural, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared goals.

For other uses, see Company (disambiguation).

Over time, companies have evolved to have following features: "separate legal personality, limited liability, transferable shares, investor ownership, and a managerial hierarchy".^[1] The company, as an entity, was created by the state which granted the privilege of incorporation.^[1]

Companies take various forms, such as:

A company can be created as a legal person so that the company itself has limited liability as members perform or fail to discharge their duties according to the publicly declared incorporation published policy. When a company closes, it may need to be liquidated to avoid further legal obligations. Companies may associate and collectively register themselves as new companies; the resulting entities are often known as corporate groups.

Private companies limited by guarantee

Community interest company

Charitable incorporated organisation

- the most common form of company

Private companies limited by shares

- companies, usually large, which are permitted to (but do not have to) offer their shares to the public, for example on a stock exchange

Public limited companies

A (CLG): Commonly used where companies are formed for non-commercial purposes, such as clubs or charities. The members guarantee the payment of certain (usually nominal) amounts if the company goes into insolvent liquidation, but otherwise, they have no economic rights in relation to the company. This type of company is common in England. A company limited by guarantee may be with or without having share capital.

company limited by guarantee

A : The most common form of the company used for business ventures. Specifically, a limited company is a "company in which the liability of each shareholder is limited to the amount individually invested" with corporations being "the most common example of a limited company".^[10] This type of company is common in England and many English-speaking countries. A company limited by shares may be a publicly traded company or a privately held company.

company limited by shares

A company limited by guarantee with a share capital: A hybrid entity, usually used where the company is formed for non-commercial purposes, but the activities of the company are partly funded by investors who expect a return. This type of company may no longer be formed in the UK, although provisions still exist in law for them to exist.

[8]

A : "A company—statutorily authorized in certain states—that is characterized by limited liability, management by members or managers, and limitations on ownership transfer", i.e., L.L.C.^[10] LLC structure has been called "hybrid" in that it "combines the characteristics of a corporation and of a partnership or sole proprietorship". Like a corporation, it has limited liability for members of the company, and like a partnership it has "flow-through taxation to the members" and must be "dissolved upon the death or bankruptcy of a member".^[11]

limited liability company

An with or without a share capital: A hybrid entity, a company where the liability of members or shareholders for the debts (if any) of the company are not limited. In this case, the doctrine of a veil of incorporation does not apply.

unlimited company

Less common types of companies are:

When "Ltd" is placed after the company's name, it signifies a limited company, and "PLC" (public limited company) indicates that its shares are widely held.^[12]

In the legal context, the owners of a company are normally referred to as the "members". In a company limited or unlimited by shares (formed or incorporated with a share capital), this will be the shareholders. In a company limited by guarantee, this will be the guarantors. Some offshore jurisdictions have created special forms of offshore company in a bid to attract business for their jurisdictions. Examples include segregated portfolio companies and restricted purpose companies.

However, there are many sub-categories of company types that can be formed in various jurisdictions in the world.

Companies are also sometimes distinguished for legal and regulatory purposes between public companies and private companies. Public companies are companies whose shares can be publicly traded, often (although not always) on a stock exchange which imposes listing requirements/Listing Rules as to the issued shares, the trading of shares and future issue of shares to help bolster the reputation of the exchange or particular market of an exchange. Private companies do not have publicly traded shares, and often contain restrictions on transfers of shares. In some jurisdictions, private companies have maximum numbers of shareholders.

A parent company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors; the second company being deemed a subsidiary of the parent company. The definition of a parent company differs by jurisdiction, with the definition normally being defined by way of laws dealing with companies in that jurisdiction.

Corporate personhood

List of company registers

List of largest employers

Lists of companies

Stewardship

Types of business entity

Alan Dignam and John Lowry. Company Law. Oxford: , 2020. ISBN 978-0-19-928936-3.

Oxford University Press

and Adrian Wooldridge, The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea. New York: Modern Library, 2003.

John Micklethwait

. Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 795–803.

"Company"

. Government Information Library. University of Colorado at Boulder. Archived from the original on June 12, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2009.

"Labor and Employment"

. Gov.UK.