Do small business have stock?

Question

and if they do how do you purchase it since its not on the stock exchange???

Answer 1

All corporations by the nature have stock.  The stock may be privately held and not available to the public

There are many stocks that are publically held and not all stocks are traded on exchanges.

Those that are not on the exchange are trade over-the-counter (OTC) and most are listed in a publication called the "Pink Sheets".  You can visit there website at http://www.pinksheets.com/pink/quote/ind...

Your brokerage firm will be able to buy these securities for you, if they are publically traded.

Answer 2

As long as it is a corporation, they have stock. Most small corporations are private, meaning their shares are not publically traded.

I have a small corporation, just myself and my wife own the shares.

Answer 3

how small?

<100 million you can sometimes find on the AmEx or NASDAQ.

if you mean the mom-and-pop general store down the street, you can always approach them directly about taking an equity stake if you really want, but for non-public companies, you'll have absolutely no liquidity.

Answer 4

Typically small business stock is sold to investors through a private placement. It is not liquid (cannot be readily sold) for the reason you mentioned - it is not traded on any exchange. Therefore, when investing in a private company, one should have good information about the company and have the financial resources to not need the money for some time. It could be quite a long time to get cashed out (liquidity).  Getting liquidity usually occurs through a buy-out (acquisition) by another company or if the company "goes public" through the sale of stock on an exchange (also called an initial public offering or IPO). Often, to buy stock in a private company, investors must be qualified, meeting certain income and/or asset levels. This protects the company from selling stock to people that shouldn't really be risking money in a private venture as most are considered somewhat high risk.

Answer 5

If a business offers shares of stock, they will be available on an exchange. Most small businesses don't have stock because they are privately owned. As a company grows, they may opt to offer shares of stock if they desire the extra capital, but they give up ownership of the company by doing this.