section_path: Forms
section_name: Forms
paragraph_text: Forms
  
  Forms of business ownership vary by jurisdiction, but several common entities exist:
  
  Less common types of companies are:
  
  "Ltd after the company's name signifies limited company, and PLC (public limited company) indicates that its shares are widely held."
  
  In legal parlance, the owners of a company are normally referred to as the "members". In a company limited or unlimited by shares (formed or incorporated with a share capital), this will be the shareholders. In a company limited by guarantee, this will be the guarantors. Some offshore jurisdictions have created special forms of offshore company in a bid to attract business for their jurisdictions. Examples include " segregated portfolio companies " and restricted purpose companies.
  
  There are, however, many, many sub-categories of types of company that can be formed in various jurisdictions in the world.
  
  Companies are also sometimes distinguished into public companies and private companies for legal and regulatory purposes. Public companies are companies whose shares can be publicly traded, often (although not always) on a stock exchange which imposes listing requirements / Listing Rules as to the issued shares, the trading of shares and a future issue of shares to help bolster the reputation of the exchange or particular market of exchange. Private companies do not have publicly traded shares, and often contain restrictions on transfers of shares. In some jurisdictions, private companies have maximum numbers of shareholders.
  
  A parent company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors; the second company being deemed as a subsidiary of the parent company. The subsidiary company can be allowed to maintain its own board of directors. The definition of a parent company differs by jurisdiction, with the definition normally being defined by way of laws dealing with companies in that jurisdiction.