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Literally a '''public company''' is a [[company]] owned by the [[public]]. There are two uses of this term.
* One meaning is that the company is owned by a government body. Usually this means that the company is guided by the [[state]] and that making [[profit]] is not its primary goal. [[Privatization]] is a trend related to [[globalization]] with the result that more and more public companies are becoming 'normal' companies. Many public companies are also [[monopoly|monopolies]].
* The other meaning is that the company is owned and traded publicly. Ownership is open to anyone that has the money and inclination to buy [[shares]] in the company. It is differentiated from ''privately held companies''.

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====References====
* Adapted from the [[Wikipedia]] article, "Public_company" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_company], used under the [[GNU Free Documentation License]]