public company

American

noun

British.

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

public company British

noun

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

public company Cultural

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Krispy Kreme’s second stint as a public company hasn’t gone very well.

From MarketWatch

The first stint ended in July 2016, when Krispy Kreme was acquired by JAB Beech to end about a 16-year run as a public company.

From MarketWatch

Krispy Kreme’s second stint as a public company hasn’t gone very well.

From MarketWatch

The first stint ended in July 2016, when Krispy Kreme was acquired by JAB Beech to end about a 16-year run as a public company.

From MarketWatch

I run a public company that straddles the worlds of software and AI, and I’ve seen this movie before.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023