Active Vocabulary

· buyout: the purchase of a controlling share in a company

· bid: an offer to buy shares of a company in order to take control of it

· dissolve: put an end (to an organization or agreement)

· distribution: the process of transporting, storing and selling products to different stores and customers

· diversification: spreading the activities of a firm between different types of products and markets

· employer: a person or organization that employs (hires) people

· employee: a person who is paid to work for someone else

· enterprise: a company or business, often a small one

· entrepreneur: a person who organizes a business, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit

· equipment: the machinery, tools, etc. that you need to do a job

· general public: ordinary people in society

· joint-stock company: a company owned and controlled by shareholders

· joint venture: a business or project in which two or more companies invest, with the intention of working together.

· labour: physical work; workers in a company, especially people who do work with their hands

· leveraged buyout (LBO): taking control of a company by buying its shares using borrowed money

· merger: a combination of two companies into one

· parent company: a company that owns or controls a smaller company of the same type

· partnership: a company which is owned by two or more people

· raid: taking control of a company by buying a lot of its shares

· retail outlet: a shop that sells products of a particular company or products of a specific type

· shares (AE stocks): many equal parts into which a company’s ownership is divided

· shareholder (AE stockholder): an owner of shares in a company

· sole proprietorship: a business that is owned and operated by only one person

· subsidiary: a company which is part of a larger company

· takeover: taking control of a company by buying more of its shares than anyone else

· taxation: the system of collecting taxes