Chapter 6 Corporate Forms of Business Ownership
Joint Venture
An agreement among two or more companies to work together.
Personal Guarantee
An agreement which makes someone personally liable for the debts of a corporation.
Charter
An official document through which a state grants the power to operate as a corporation.
Non Profit Corporation
An organization that does not exist to make profits and is not taxed.
Officers
Executives hired to manage a business.
LLC or Sub Chapter S
Limited Liability Corporation - A special type of corporation which is taxed like a partnership.
Limited Liability
Limits the potential loss of shareholders to only the value of their stock.
Stockholder
Owners of a corporation.
Dividends
Profits that are distributed to stockholders.
Proxy
A written authorization for someone to vote on behalf of a stockholder.
Prospectus
A summary of the features of the business and it's stock offering.
Cooperative
A business owned and operated by its members for the purpose of supplying themselves with goods and services.
Corporation
A business owned by a group of people and authorized by the state in which it is located to act as a person, separate from its owners.
Quasi Public Corporation
A business that provides an important service to a society but lacks the profit potential to attract investors.
Open Corporation
A company who offers it's shares of stock for sale to the public.
Close Corporation
A corporation held by a small group of owners whose stock is not publicly traded.
Virtual Corporation
A network of companies that form an alliance to take advantage of market conditions.
Activist Shareholder
A shareholder in a company who uses equity stake to put pressure on management to make changes to the company.
Stock
Shares of ownership of a company.
IPO
The first sale of stock by a company to the public.
Board of Directors
The ruling body of a corporation.