Meaning & use
closely held business
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablebusinessfinance
A company whose shares are owned by a small number of people, often one family.
Grammar: Countable: a closely held business, two closely held businesses.
Patterns
- a closely held business
- own a closely held business
- shares in a closely held business
The bakery is a closely held business, with all the shares owned by the same family.
Investors often find it hard to buy into a closely held business because few shares are for sale.
She inherited a closely held business from her father and now runs it herself.
Word forms
| plural | closely held businesses |
|---|
Common combinations
- a closely held company
- A closely held company does not trade its shares on a public stock exchange.
- closely held shares
- Closely held shares are concentrated in the hands of a few owners.
- family-owned and closely held
- The winery is family-owned and closely held.
- transfer ownership of a closely held business
- Transferring ownership of a closely held business can be complicated.
Synonyms and how they differ
- private company
- Broader: a private company may have many shareholders but is not listed on a stock exchange; closely held focuses on the small number of owners.
- family business
- More informal and emphasizes family ownership; a closely held business may be owned by a few partners who are not relatives.
Opposites
Word family
- closely held adjective
- Describes a company owned by a small group.
Commonly confused: closely held business or close-held?
closely held business vs close-held
This is not the standard term. The usual phrase is 'closely held'.
Practice
Which sentence uses the term correctly?
Choose one answer.
A closely held business has a small number of owners, often families. Options An and D wrongly suggest public trading, and C wrongly says there is no owner.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “closely held business”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.