A limited company is a company in which the liability of the members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. And the former of these, a limited company limited by shares, may be further divided into public companies and private companies. Who may become a member of a private limited company is restricted by law and by the company's rules. In contrast anyone may buy shares in a public limited company.
Limited companies can be found in most countries, although the detailed rules governing them vary widely. It is also common for a distinction to be made between the publicly tradable companies of plc type (for example, the German Aktiengesellschaft (AG), Czech a.s. and the Mexican, French, Polish and Romanian S.A.), and the "private" types of company (such as the German GmbH, Polish Sp. z o.o., the Czech s.r.o. and Slovak s.r.o.).
Famous quotes containing the words limited and/or company:
“In many ways, life becomes simpler [for young adults]. . . . We are expected to solve only a finite number of problems within a limited range of possible solutions. . . . It’s a mental vacation compared with figuring out who we are, what we believe, what we’re going to do with our talents, how we’re going to solve the social problems of the globe . . .and what the perfect way to raise our children will be.”
—Roger Gould (20th century)
“We do not mind our not arriving anywhere nearly so much as our not having any company on the way.”
—Frank Moore Colby (1865–1925)