The concept of "publicly owned" is interesting. When a company is listed on an open stock exchange and anybody is allowed to purchase a piece of ownership and b

The concept of "publicly owned" is interesting. When a company is listed on an open stock exchange and anybody is allowed to purchase a piece of ownership and be able to vote as a shareholder, that is "privately owned." When a "company" is controlled by the government and the public has no say in who is appointed to make decisions for that organization, the company is "publicly owned." For a publicly owned entity, the public can, in theory, vote in a politician who can appoint somebody to appoint somebody to control the entity. So privately owned companies can be directly controlled by their owners in proportion to the amount of ownership. Publicly owned companies cannot usually be directly controlled by their owners, but can be indirectly controlled in proportion to the political power of the owner.