Public company

A company whose stock is traded on a national securities exchange, like the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq, is a public company (but not all public companies trade on a national securities exchange- – more on that below). As the SEC states on its website, “[t]here are two commonly understood ways in which a company is considered public:  first, the company’s securities trade on public markets; and second, the company discloses certain business and financial information regularly to the public.” The SEC, however, considers a company to be “public” if it has public reporting obligations.  For more information, see Investing Basics For Beginners Installment #1: What is Stock? And Should You Buy Some?