Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

Chapter 2.3: International Advocacy with Companies and Their Investors
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panies may be publicly owned. Remember also that companies
are bought and sold all the time. A company that was privately
owned may be purchased by a public company. Private companies
sometimes become public as they grow and develop
a need for more capital. Subsidiaries change ownership, and
begin operating under new parent companies. It is essential
to know who currently owns the company before beginning a
campaign.
• Public: A public company is one “publicly listed” or
“quoted” on a stock exchange. In this case public
does not imply it is owned by the state. It is owned
by a group of investors called shareholders, and those
shares can be bought and sold by the general public.
That share ownership is also referred to as equity, and
shares as stocks. The companies have to abide by the
rules of the stock market. Typically this means that
companies must disclose any information that could
affect their value so that everyone can see the information
at the same time and no one gets an unfair
financial advantage. Therefore information is more
easily available on these companies, because they are
required to make public reports to the relevant stock
exchange on a quarterly and annual basis fully disclosing
their financial status and activities.
• Private: A private company does not sell shares to the
public, and may be owned by one person or a partnership.
Unlike public companies, private companies are
not required to disclose information about themselves.
Although general information may be easy to find on
very large private companies, financial information
may be difficult to obtain.
• Subsidiary: Subsidiaries are companies that may
appear to operate as independent businesses, but are
in fact at least 50 percent owned by a parent corporation.
Corporations need only disclose information on
their company as a whole, so finding material on their
subsidiaries may be as difficult as finding information
on private companies. It is likely in a multinational
company that a community will be dealing at the local
level with a subsidiary.