Company Type Abbreviations
78 abbreviations · part of Business & Finance Abbreviations
Legal-form designations that follow (or sometimes precede) company names around the world, such as LLC and Inc. in the United States, Ltd and PLC in the UK, GmbH and AG in Germany, SA in France and Spain and KK in Japan. The suffix tells you the country of registration, whether owners have limited liability and often whether shares can be offered to the public. Entries give the original-language full form, the countries that use it, liability and minimum-capital rules where they are well established, and how the designation is normally written.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| A/S | Aktieselskab (stock company, Denmark) | Danish stock company form, used by large and listed companies and by many private ones, with shareholders' liability limited to their shares. |
| AB | Aktiebolag (limited company) | Swedish limited company form, used by both private companies and listed corporations, and also by Swedish-speaking companies in Finland. |
| AG | Aktiengesellschaft (stock corporation) | Corporation form in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein whose capital is divided into shares that may be listed on a stock exchange. |
| ApS | Anpartsselskab (private limited company) | Danish private limited company, the most common company form in Denmark, whose ownership units (anparter) cannot be offered to the public. |
| AS | Aksjeselskap / aktsiaselts (limited company) | Limited company suffix in Norway, where the aksjeselskap is the standard private company form, and in Estonia, where the aktsiaselts is a joint-stock company. |
| ASA | Allmennaksjeselskap (public limited company) | Norwegian public limited company form, required for companies that offer shares to the public and typical among companies listed on Euronext Oslo Børs, formerly the… |
| B Corp | Certified B Corporation | Certification awarded by the nonprofit B Lab to for-profit companies that meet standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal… |
| Bhd | Berhad (public limited company) | Malaysian suffix for a public limited company, which may offer shares to the public and list on Bursa Malaysia. "Berhad" is Malay for "limited," and on its own it marks… |
| bros. | Brothers | Shortens "brothers," most familiar in company names such as Warner Bros. and in casual reference to siblings or close friends. |
| BV | Besloten vennootschap (private limited company) | Private limited company form in the Netherlands and Flemish-speaking Belgium, comparable to a UK Ltd or German GmbH. |
| C corp | C corporation | Standard US corporation taxed separately from its owners under Subchapter C of the Internal Revenue Code, paying corporate income tax on its profits, with shareholders… |
| CIC | Community interest company | UK limited company created for social enterprises that want to use profits and assets for community benefit. |
| Cie | Compagnie (company) | French abbreviation of compagnie, meaning company, used in business names, especially in the phrase "et Cie" (and company), the French equivalent of "& Co." It appears… |
| CIO | Charitable incorporated organisation | Legal form for charities in England and Wales that gives trustees limited liability without the need to register as a company. |
| Co-op | Cooperative | Business owned and democratically controlled by its members, who may be its customers, workers or producers, typically on a one-member, one-vote basis, with surplus… |
| Co. | Company | Abbreviation of company used in business names, either as a standalone ending, as in "Ford Motor Co.," or combined with another designation, as in "Co., Ltd." In many… |
| Co., Ltd. | Company limited | English-language suffix for limited companies in Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand and other Asian countries, translating local forms such as the Japanese… |
| Corp. | Corporation | Abbreviation of corporation, a company incorporated under state or national law with a legal identity separate from its owners, limited shareholder liability and… |
| d.o.o. | Društvo s ograničenom odgovornošću (limited liability company) | Private limited liability company in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, and in Slovenia as družba z omejeno odgovornostjo; it is the standard form… |
| DBA | Doing business as | Name a person or company uses to trade that differs from its legal name, such as a sole proprietor named Maria Lopez operating as "Sunrise Bakery." In the US, DBAs are… |
| e.V. | Eingetragener Verein (registered association) | German legal form for nonprofit associations, such as sports clubs, charities and professional bodies, entered in the register of associations at the local court. |
| FZCO | Free zone company | Limited liability company form used in several Dubai free zones, such as Jebel Ali Free Zone and Dubai Silicon Oasis. |
| FZE | Free zone establishment | Company formed in a United Arab Emirates free zone with a single shareholder, which may be a person or a corporate entity. |
| GK | Gōdō kaisha (limited liability company) | Japanese company form introduced in 2006 and modeled on the American LLC, with limited liability for members, flexible internal rules and lower setup costs than a… |
| GmbH | Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (company with limited liability) | Most common form of limited company in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, roughly equivalent to a private limited company or LLC. |
| GmbH & Co. KG | GmbH & Compagnie Kommanditgesellschaft (limited partnership whose general partner is a limited company) | German hybrid business form in which a GmbH serves as the general partner of a limited partnership, so that no individual has unlimited liability while the business… |
| GP | General partnership | Business owned by two or more partners who share profits, management and unlimited personal liability for the partnership's debts. |
| Inc. | Incorporated | Designation showing that a business is a corporation, a legal entity separate from its shareholders that can own property, sign contracts and sue or be sued in its own… |
| JSC | Joint-stock company | English rendering of corporate forms in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Georgia, Vietnam and other countries whose capital is divided into shares, with shareholders'… |
| Kft. | Korlátolt felelősségű társaság (limited liability company) | Hungarian private limited liability company, the most common corporate form in Hungary, with minimum share capital of HUF 3 million. |
| KG | Kommanditgesellschaft (limited partnership) | German and Austrian limited partnership with at least one general partner (Komplementär) who has unlimited liability and at least one limited partner (Kommanditist)… |
| KGaA | Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien (partnership limited by shares) | Hybrid German legal form combining features of a limited partnership and a stock corporation: at least one general partner with unlimited liability manages the company… |
| KK | Kabushiki kaisha (stock company) | Japan's standard corporation form, used by listed giants and small private firms alike, with share capital and limited liability for shareholders. |
| L3C | Low-profit limited liability company | Variant of the LLC available in a small number of US states, designed for businesses whose primary purpose is charitable or educational, with profit-making a secondary… |
| LLC | Limited liability company | US business structure that combines the limited liability of a corporation with the flexible management and pass-through taxation of a partnership. |
| LLLP | Limited liability limited partnership | Limited partnership whose general partners also enjoy limited liability, so no partner is personally responsible for the partnership's debts. |
| LLP | Limited liability partnership | Partnership in which partners are not personally liable for the partnership's debts or for other partners' negligence, while the business can still be taxed as a… |
| LP | Limited partnership | Partnership with at least one general partner, who manages the business and has unlimited liability, and one or more limited partners, who invest capital but are liable… |
| Ltd. | Limited | Designation for a private company limited by shares in the UK, Ireland and many Commonwealth countries, meaning shareholders' liability is limited to any unpaid amount… |
| Ltda | Limitada (limited company) | Suffix for private limited liability companies in Brazil, Colombia, Chile and other Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries, from sociedade limitada or sociedad de… |
| Ltée | Limitée (limited) | French equivalent of "Ltd." used by companies in Quebec and other French-speaking parts of Canada. |
| NL | No liability | Australian company type restricted to mining activities, in which shareholders are not obliged to pay calls on partly paid shares; if they do not pay, their shares are… |
| NV | Naamloze vennootschap (public limited company) | Dutch and Belgian public company form whose shares may be listed on a stock exchange, literally "nameless partnership" because shareholders are not named. |
| OHG | Offene Handelsgesellschaft (general commercial partnership) | German general partnership for commercial businesses, in which all partners have unlimited, joint liability for the firm's debts. |
| OOO | Obshchestvo s ogranichennoy otvetstvennostyu (limited liability company) | Russian limited liability company, the most common business form in Russia, transliterated from the Cyrillic ООО and usually translated as LLC in English. |
| OPC | One person company | Indian company form introduced by the Companies Act, 2013 that lets a single individual form a private limited company with limited liability. |
| Oy | Osakeyhtiö (limited company) | Finnish private limited company form, the most common company type in Finland, with shareholders liable only up to their investment. |
| Oyj | Julkinen osakeyhtiö (public limited company) | Finnish public limited company, whose shares may be offered to the public and listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. |
| PA | Professional association | Corporate form for licensed professionals, such as physicians, lawyers and accountants, available in certain US states, such as Florida and Texas. |
| PBC | Public benefit corporation | US for-profit corporation whose charter commits it to pursue one or more stated public benefits, such as environmental or social goals, alongside shareholder returns. |
| PC | Professional corporation | Corporation formed by licensed professionals, such as physicians, lawyers, dentists or accountants, under state laws that typically require all shareholders to hold the… |
| PCL | Public company limited | Suffix for Thai public limited companies, which may offer shares to the public and list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand; written "Public Company Limited" or "PCL" in… |
| PJSC | Public joint-stock company | English rendering of the Russian public joint-stock company (PAO) and similar forms in Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates, used by companies whose shares may be… |
| PLC | Public limited company | UK and Irish company form whose shares may be offered to the public and traded on a stock exchange, though not every PLC is listed. |
| PLLC | Professional limited liability company | LLC formed by licensed professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, architects or engineers, in US states that require or allow a special form for professional… |
| PT | Perseroan Terbatas (limited liability company) | Indonesian limited liability company, the main corporate form in Indonesia, written as a prefix before the company name rather than after it. |
| Pte Ltd | Private limited company (Singapore) | Singapore's standard private company form, written "Private Limited" or "Pte. |
| Pty Ltd | Proprietary limited company | Private company limited by shares in Australia and South Africa, where "proprietary" indicates that it cannot offer shares to the public. |
| Pvt Ltd | Private limited company | Standard form for private companies in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, written as "Private Limited" or "Pvt Ltd" after the name. |
| S corp | S corporation | US corporation that elects under Subchapter S of the Internal Revenue Code to pass income, losses, deductions and credits through to shareholders for federal tax… |
| S.A. de C.V. | Sociedad anónima de capital variable (variable-capital stock company) | Mexican corporation form whose share capital can be increased or decreased without amending the bylaws, making it the most common structure for medium and large… |
| s.r.o. | Společnost s ručením omezeným / spoločnosť s ručením obmedzeným (limited liability company) | Private limited liability company in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the most common form for businesses in both countries. |
| SA | Société anonyme / Sociedad anónima (public limited company) | Corporation form with share capital and limited liability used in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain, Latin America and many other civil-law countries; the… |
| SARL | Société à responsabilité limitée (limited liability company) | Private limited company form in France, Luxembourg, Morocco, Switzerland and other French-speaking jurisdictions, roughly equivalent to an LLC or UK Ltd. |
| SAS | Société par actions simplifiée (simplified joint-stock company) | Flexible French corporate form whose shareholders can largely set governance rules in the company's bylaws, popular with startups, joint ventures and subsidiaries. |
| SASU | Société par actions simplifiée unipersonnelle (single-shareholder simplified joint-stock company) | French SAS with only one shareholder, popular with freelancers, consultants and solo founders who want limited liability and flexible governance. |
| Sdn Bhd | Sendirian Berhad (private limited company) | Malaysian private limited company, the standard form for local businesses and foreign subsidiaries in Malaysia, with limited liability and a maximum of 50 members.… |
| SE | Societas Europaea (European company) | Public limited company form created under EU law that allows a business to operate across the European Economic Area under a single corporate structure and to move its… |
| SL | Sociedad limitada (limited company) | Spanish private limited company, the most common legal form for businesses in Spain, also called sociedad de responsabilidad limitada (SRL). |
| SMLLC | Single-member limited liability company | LLC owned by one person or entity. |
| Sp. z o.o. | Spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością (limited liability company) | Polish limited liability company, the most popular form for businesses and foreign subsidiaries in Poland, with minimum share capital of PLN 5,000. |
| SpA | Società per azioni (joint-stock company) | Italian joint-stock company form, used by large and listed companies, with share capital divided into shares and shareholders' liability limited. |
| Srl | Società a responsabilità limitata (limited liability company) | Italian private limited liability company, the most common form for Italian small and medium businesses, with liability limited to members' contributions. |
| t/a | Trading as | British and Commonwealth phrase linking a person's or company's legal name to the name under which it trades, as in "J. |
| Tbk | Terbuka (open, i.e. public) | Indonesian suffix indicating a publicly listed limited company, written after the name of a PT whose shares trade on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. "Terbuka" means "open." |
| UG | Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt) (entrepreneurial company with limited liability) | German "mini-GmbH" that can be formed with as little as €1 of share capital. |
| ULC | Unlimited liability corporation | Canadian corporation available in Nova Scotia, Alberta and British Columbia whose shareholders can be liable for its debts in certain circumstances, typically on… |
| WFOE | Wholly foreign-owned enterprise | Limited liability company in mainland China owned entirely by foreign investors, allowing full control without a Chinese partner. |
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