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The term privately held company refers to ownership of a business company in two different ways first, referring to ownership by non-governmental organizations; and second, referring to ownership of the company's stock by a relatively small number of holders who do not trade the stock publicly on the stock market. Because of these two different meanings, the use of the term should normally be avoided unless the context makes clear which definition is intended. Less ambiguous terms for a privately held company are unquoted company and unlisted company. Though less visible than their publicly traded counterparts, private companies have a major importance in the world's economy. In 2005, the 339 companies on Forbes' survey of closely held U.S. businesses sold a trillion dollars' worth of goods and services and employed 4 million people. In 2004, the Forbes' count of privately held U.S. businesses with at least $1 billion in revenue was only 305.[1] In the broadest sense, the term privately held company refers to any business not owned by the state. This usage is often found in former Communist countries to differentiate from former state-owned enterprises,[citation needed] but it may be used anywhere when contrasting to a state-owned company. In the United States, the term privately held company is more often used to describe for-profit enterprises whose shares are not traded on the stock market.
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