Privately Held Company | Public Company | |
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Meaning | Wholly owned privately by private investors, management, founders, etc. | Sells all or its part of shares to the public by IPO. Similarly, it contains investors, founders, etc. |
Public Stock Exchange | Not traded on public stock exchange. | Traded on public stock exchange like NYSE, Tokyo Stock Exchange, etc. |
Information Availability | Almost no information is available. | A lot of primary as well as some secondary data is available. |
Size | Small comparatively. | Large-dealing in dollars. |
Valuation | Very difficult due to lack of information. | Easier due to a lot of information availability. |
Control | Owners and management have higher control over their company. | Lower control, must have board of directors from inside and outside the company. |