closed corporation

American  

noun

1. an incorporated business the stock of which is owned by a small group.

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closed corporation British  

noun

1. Also: close corporation.  a corporation the stock of which is owned by a small number of persons and is rarely traded on the open market

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

closed corporation

But last week Marshall Field & Co., following the lead of many another closed corporation, decided to let a portion of its stock pass to the public.

From Time Magazine Archive

When others have tried to board the subsidy liner, "Club 13" has seemed a closed corporation; three applications have been pending before the board for three years or more, with no action.

From Time Magazine Archive

Those who were inside when the gates slammed have often behaved as if all of Boston were a closed corporation and they the only stockholders.

From Time Magazine Archive

What was more, the stock was kept so much at home in this old Presbyterian family that until recently Phelps Dodge has remained practically a closed corporation.

From Time Magazine Archive

Gunnery was a closed corporation, and the gunner himself a guildsman.

From Artillery Through the Ages A Short Illustrated History of Cannon, Emphasizing Types Used in America by Manucy, Albert