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Interestingly, "public" has a different meaning in English than in German in the context of a company. In English, a public company is a company whose shares c
by Hermel 6y ago
Interestingly, "public" has a different meaning in English than in German in the context of a company.
In English, a public company is a company whose shares can be freely traded by the public.
In German, a public company is a company that is owned to the government. Companies that are listed on the stock market are called "kotiert".
This could hint at a cultural difference, with the Germans more strongly identifying with the government ("if it belongs to the government, it belongs to everyone"), whereas the English speaking countries might tend to identify more strongly with the economy ("if everyone owns or at least could own some shares of it, it belongs to everyone").
- Macha 6y agoIn Ireland, both are used. A public [owned/sector] company is a government owned company while a public [limited] company (plc) is a company who's shares can be freely traded. Just "Public company" on its own can be context dependent, as publicly owned companies are often referred to as just public companies when referring to things like public-private partnerships or privatisation. At least public sector and public vs private in the context of privatisation are used in the UK also.
- danielh 6y agoI'm not a financial expert, but I think "börsennotiert" (listed on the stock exchange) is much more common than "kotiert", at least in Germany.
- majewsky 6y agoI'm German, and I literally just saw the word "kotiert" for the first time. Definitely use "börsennotiert" instead.
- dewey 6y agoYep, never heard of "kotiert" before.
- FabHK 6y agoI believe "kotiert" is a charming Swiss-German word (one of many, like "Velo" instead of "Fahrrad" for bike).
- romanixromanix 6y agoYes. See glossary of SIX Swiss Exchange: https://www.six-group.com/exchanges/knowhow/glossary_de.html?id=Kotierung https://www.six-group.com/exchanges/knowhow/glossary_de.html...
- mratsim 6y agokotiert seems surprisingly like "cotée" for "société cotée en Bourse" in French so I wouldn't be surprised if it were the Swiss that used that term.
- lqet 6y agoThat "kotiert" may be literally translated into "excrementized" or "fecesized" certainly doesn't help in making it more popular.
- pessimizer 6y agoThe phrase "publicly owned" in English implies government-owned (which seems like the German.) I'm not sure that the phrase "public company" is a common one. "Publicly-traded"? Yes. A company "going public"? Yes. And people would know what you meant if you said "public company" in context, but they might think you were referring to a "public utility," which may or may not be government owned. Also public and private schools (in the US.)
- bb611 6y agoA quick Google shows common usage of "Public Company" in US publications, in the manner described by GP.
- zaarn 6y agoI think that is more of a US thing, to my knowlegde public company means the same in english and german.
- x87678r 6y agoI get most confused by "public schools" in the UK which are the privately owned fee paying ones.
- occamrazor 6y agoThey are open to the public (in contrast to a private teacher). They are public in the same way a pub is a public house.
- eru 6y agoYou'll love British public schools. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_(United_Kingdom) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_(United_Kingdom)
- noneeeed 6y agoBut "public education" refers to state run/funded schools :) Also in the UK the "Public Sector" is government organisations. The "private sector" is for-profit/comercial organisations, many of which are publicly traded comapanies, which is normally shortened to simply "public companies". So you could be a public company in the private sector that provides services to a public school, which is part of the private education sector. Language is fun.