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Limited company (By shares · By guarantee) (Public · Proprietary)
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De facto corporation and corporation by estoppel
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Related areas of law
Contract · Civil procedure

The German term Aktiengesellschaft (IPA: ['aktsiəngəzεlʃaft]) (abbreviated AG) means a corporation that is limited by shares, i.e., owned by shareholders. It may be traded on the stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The U.S. equivalent term is "public company".

Contents 1 Meaning of the word 2 Reasons for setting up a corporation 3 Legal basis 4 See also

Aktien means shares, and Gesellschaft means business association in this context.

When a corporation is started, it often must collect a lot of money to pay for startup costs, and banks provide only a limited amount, especially if it is unknown whether that corporation is going to earn enough money to repay all the loans plus interest on time. However, some members of the public will take a risk and provide money in exchange for a piece of paper, or just a book entry, that can be sold to others on the stock market, and that has a value that fluctuates, depending on, for example, whether the shares concerned will pay dividends, and if so, how much per year, or what percentage of the current price of the shares. Also, shares usually come with voting rights, so shareholders can dictate the direction of the company, and the power one holds depends on the amount of shares that one possesses.

The legal basis of the AG is, in Germany and Austria, the respective Aktiengesetz (abbr. AktG), in Switzerland a part of the Obligationenrecht (OR). As the law requires all corporations to specify their legal form (which gives the limitation of liability) in the name, all German and Austrian stock corporations bear Aktiengesellschaft or AG as part (usually suffix) of their name.

• Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH; limited liability company)
• Public limited company (the corresponding concept in the UK and in Ireland)
• S. A. (the corresponding concept in France, Spain and other Romanic countries)
• Naamloze Vennootschap (the corresponding concept in the Netherlands)
• Aktieselskab (the corresponding concept in Denmark)
• Aktiebolag (the corresponding concept in Sweden)
• Osakeyhtiö (the corresponding concept in Finland)
• Societas Europaea (the corresponding concept for European companies in the European Union)
• Limited liability company