Aktiengesellschaft

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Aktiengesellschaft

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG) is a German

German language

Corporation

A corporation is a legal entity separate from the persons that form it. It is a legal entity owned by individual stockholders. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate ....
that is limited by share

Share (finance)

File:Stora Kopparberg 1288.jpgIn finance, a share is a unit of account for various financial instruments including stocks , and investments in mutual funds, limited partnerships, and Real estate investment trust's....
s, i.e. owned by shareholder

Shareholder

A mutual shareholder or stockholder is an individual or company that legally owns one or more share s of stock in a joint stock company....
s, and may be traded on a stock market

Stock market

A stock market, or equity market, is a private or public Market system for the trade of Corporation stock and Derivative s of company stock at an agreed price; these are security listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately....
. The term is used in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
, and Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
.

German

German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
word Aktiengesellschaft is a compound noun made up of two elements: Aktien meaning shares, and Gesellschaft meaning company. However to translate it as "share company" is misleading, since other types of German companies also have shares, although these shares are called Anteile rather than Aktien.

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Encyclopedia

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG) is a German

German language

Corporation

Share (finance)

Shareholder

A mutual shareholder or stockholder is an individual or company that legally owns one or more share s of stock in a joint stock company....
s, and may be traded on a stock market

Stock market

Germany

Austria

Switzerland

Meaning of the word

The German

German language

Polish language

Polish , an official language of Poland, has the largest number of speakers of any West Slavic languages. Polish-speakers use the language in a uniform manner through most of Poland, and it has a regular orthography....
the two types of share are called akcja and udzial.

Legal basis

The legal basis of the AG is, in Germany and Austria, the respective (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

Liability

In the most general sense, a liability is anything that is a wikt:hindrance, or puts individuals at a disadvantage. It can also be used as a slang term to describe someone that puts a team or group of which they are a member at a disadvantage, and would thus be better off without....
) in the name, all German and Austrian stock corporations bear Aktiengesellschaft or AG as part (usually suffix) of their name.

Structure

German AGs have a "two-tiered board" structure consisting of a supervisory board (Aufsichtsrat) and a management board (Vorstand). The supervisory board is generally controlled by shareholders, although employees may have seats depending on the size of the company. The management board directly runs the company, but its members may be removed by the supervisory board. The supervisory board also determines the management board's compensation.

Similar forms

Several countries have similar forms of company: Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
(Società per Azioni, S.p.A.), Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
(Aktieselskab
Aktieselskab

An Aktieselskab is the Denmark name for a stock-based corporation. An Aktieselskab can be both publicly traded and private....
, A/S), Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
(Aksjeselskap
Aksjeselskap

Aksjeselskap is the Norway term for a stock-based company. It is usually abbreviated AS or A/S, especially when used in company names....
, AS), Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
(Aktiebolag
Aktiebolag

Aktiebolag is the Swedish language term for "limited company" or "corporation". When used in company names, it is abbreviated "AB" . The governmental authority responsible for registration of limited companies in Sweden is called Bolagsverket ....
, AB), Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
(Spólka Akcyjna, S.A.), Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
(Részvénytársaság, Rt.), Slovakia

Slovakia

Slovakia . It was amended in September 1998 to allow direct election of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements....
(akciová spolocnost, a.s.), the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east....
(Akciová spolecnost, a.s.), Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
(akcionarsko društvo, a.d.), Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
(???????? ??????????? ????????, Oktrytoye Aktsinoye Obshchstvo, OAO), and Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
(Osakeyhtiö
Osakeyhtiö

Osakeyhti?, literally a "joint stock company", is the Finland equivalent of a limited company or Gesellschaft mit beschr?nkter Haftung . It is abbreviated to Oy or OY and is used either before or after the company's name, sometimes with the addition of the Swedish language equivalent Ab or AB ....
, OY), among others. All have names that more or less literally translate to "Aktiengesellschaft" (for meaning see above), although their structures differ (for instance, an Italian S.p.A. is closer to a French S.A. than a German AG).

The form is roughly equivalent to the PLC

Public limited company

A public limited company is a type of limited company which is permitted to offer its stock to the public. The designation was introduced in the UK by the Companies Act 1980, and in the Republic of Ireland by the Companies Act 1983....
in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
and Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
, to the "publicly-held/open corporation

Public company

A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its registered Security for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, but also may include companies whose stock is traded Over-the-counter via market makers who use non-exchange quotation services such as the OTCBB and the Pink Sheets....
" in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, to the Naamloze Vennootschap

Naamloze Vennootschap

is the Dutch language term for a public limited liability corporation. The company is owned by shareholders, and the company's shares are not registered to certain owners, so that they may be traded on the public stock market....
in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
and Belgium

Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
, to the S.A.

S.A. (corporation)

S.A. generally designates corporations in various countries, mostly those employing the civil law . Though literally translated as anonymous company, anonymous partnership or share company, it is known more commonly in English as a public limited company and can be differentiated from partnerships and Limited liability company....
in other civil-law

Civil law (legal system)

Civil law is a most prevalent legal system in the modern world and the oldest in human history. It is based on a code, or "a systematic collection of interrelated articles written in a terse, staccato style." The two other major legal systems in the world are common law and Islamic law....
jurisdictions, and to the Societas Europaea in the European Union.

Aktiengesellschaft

Meaning of the word

Legal basis

Structure

Similar forms

See also