public company

American  

noun

British.

1. a company that has more than 50 shareholders and whose shares are offered for public subscription.

---

public company British  

noun

1. a limited company whose shares may be purchased by the public and traded freely on the open market and whose share capital is not less than a statutory minimum; public limited company Compare private company

---

public company Cultural  

1. A company that sells shares in itself to the public to raise capital. When a previously privately owned company offers shares, it is said to “go public.”

---

Example Sentences

But amid heavy venture-capital funding and pressures for growth, Allbirds has finished every one of its years as a public company so far in the red, when measured by net income, according to FactSet data.

From MarketWatch

“We are taking the unusual step of writing you a public letter because Snap isn’t a typical public company,” Irenic said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Shares of Constellation, the country’s largest power producer, tripled in its first two years as a public company, between 2022 and 2024, and then nearly tripled again in the year after that.

From Barron's

The fast-entry rule would shorten the time it takes for a newly public company to make the Nasdaq-100 roster to less than a month.

From MarketWatch

Second, a public company would have much more short-term discipline.

From The Wall Street Journal