closely-held
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Owned by a relatively few shareholders: Describes a corporation or company whose shares are not publicly traded on a stock exchange and are instead held by a small number of individuals, often including founders, family members, or a small group of investors.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- The business remained a closely-held family company for three generations.
- As a closely-held corporation, it is not required to disclose its financials to the public.
- The decision-making process is often faster in a closely-held firm.
Advanced Usage
"closely-held company": A common collocation specifically referring to a private company with a limited number of shareholders.
- He invested in a closely-held company specializing in medical technology.
"closely-held shares": Refers to the stock or ownership units themselves that are not widely available.
- The closely-held shares were transferred to a trust.
Variants and Related Words
Privately-held (adj): Often used synonymously with "closely-held" to describe a company not listed on a public exchange.
- The privately-held enterprise was valued at over a billion dollars.
Publicly-traded (adj): The antonym, describing a company whose shares are sold to the general public on a stock exchange.
- After the IPO, the firm transitioned from being closely-held to publicly-traded.
Synonyms
- Private company: A company whose ownership is private.
- Closed corporation: A corporation with a small number of shareholders and restrictions on share transfer.
Related Phrases
- To be held closely: A less common phrasal form emphasizing the state of ownership.
- The stock is held closely by the founding partners.
Related Idioms
- To keep something close to the vest/chest: While not directly synonymous, this idiom about secrecy can relate to the private, controlled nature of closely-held businesses.
- The owners keep their plans close to the vest, as is typical for a closely-held business.
Adjective
- owned by a relatively few shareholders
- a closely-held corporation