public company

American  

noun

British.

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

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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

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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.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

public company

Sarbox requires third-party audits of public company internal controls, and it created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to regulate public accounting firms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

CXMT, the Chinese memory-chip producer, on Friday reported its first financials as a public company that showed that how much it is benefiting from the surge in artificial-intelligence services lifting prices.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026

After struggling as a public company, Blue Apron was purchased by food-delivery startup Wonder in 2023 for around $103 million, far below its IPO value of $1.9 billion in 2017.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

As I reported at the time of the Intel investment, the government’s taking an equity stake in a public company isn’t unprecedented.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

The entire cost of the bridge was £110,000, raised by a public company.

From Dickens' London by M. F. (Milburg Francisco) Mansfield