private company

American  

noun

British.

1. a company whose shareholders may not exceed 50 in number and whose shares may not be offered for public subscription.

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private company British  

noun

1. a limited company that does not issue shares for public subscription and whose owners do not enjoy an unrestricted right to transfer their shareholdings Compare public company

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Etymology

Origin of private company

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

This ETF announced in December 2024 that it had “made history” by making Elon Musk’s private company SpaceX its top holding.

From The Wall Street Journal

“As we stated last Friday, we do not believe, and have never believed, that it is the role of Anthropic or any private company to be involved in operational decision-making — that is the role of the military,” Amodei said.

From MarketWatch

The main concern now is that DraftKings is losing customers to competitors such as Kalshi, a private company that is considered the current leader in prediction markets.

From The Wall Street Journal

Fidelity, a closely held private company controlled by the Johnson family, doesn’t disclose as much financial information as those publicly held peers.

From The Wall Street Journal

“DoD does not want a private company’s usage policy to function as a veto over lawful military applications,” Jessica Tillipman, a professor at George Washington University’s law school who specializes in government procurement law, told MarketWatch over email.

From MarketWatch