close company
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Legal.
Closed Corporation
A company in which a small group of shareholders controls the majority of the shares. These majority shareholders tend to hold on to the company's stock, and, for that reason, only minority shares are traded, leading to light trade volume. Closed corporations are, by their nature, resistant to hostile takeovers and proxy wars. They tend to be more stable than other companies because their share prices are not determined by (sometimes irrational) investment decisions, but by the value of the company itself. However, closed corporations do not have access to as much working capital as corporations with more shareholders. They are also called closely held companies.
Farlex Financial Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All Rights Reserved
close company
a JOINT-STOCK COMPANY which is under the control of five or fewer larger SHAREHOLDERS or directors.Collins Dictionary of Business, 3rd ed. © 2002, 2005 C Pass, B Lowes, A Pendleton, L Chadwick, D O’Reilly and M Afferson