A privately held company is a business whose shares are not offered for public subscription or traded on stock exchanges, but instead are owned and exchanged privately, often by founders, their families, or a small group of investors. Despite being less visible than publicly traded counterparts, these companies are economically significant; for example, in 2008, the largest private U.S. firms generated $1.8 trillion in revenue and employed 6.2 million people.

Unlike public companies, which allow general public investment, private entities keep ownership among private stakeholders. They can be structured in various forms, such as corporations, limited companies (like a UK "Ltd"), or partnerships, depending on their location and organization. A key advantage for privately held companies is that they generally have fewer and less comprehensive reporting requirements compared to publicly traded corporations, offering greater operational privacy.