shell company

noun

1. a near-defunct company, esp one with a stock-exchange listing, used as a vehicle for a thriving company
2. a company that has ceased to trade but retains its registration and is sold for a small sum to enable its new owners to avoid the cost and trouble of registering a new company

Example Sentences

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has accused Formosa — which counts “League of Legends” among its most popular projects — of attempting to “subvert the video game strike” by recruiting nonunion talent for one of its struck titles and operating under the guise of a shell company.

From Los Angeles Times

But a New York Times report said that BAC was a shell company that acted as a front for Israel, citing Israeli intelligence officers.

From BBC

That's below the $17.50 share price that the shell company, Digital World Acquisition Corporation, had at the start of the year.

From Salon

Trump Media & Technology Group, the social media company that owns Truth Social and is itself majority-owned by one of its most avid users, former President Donald Trump, reached its peak value in March after merging a with publicly traded shell company.

From Salon

Buyers snapped up shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded shell company, which was created to buy Trump Media and was seen on Wall Street as a proxy for the firm.

From BBC