Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
public company
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ By s. 282 of the 1985 Act every public company must have at least two directors.
▪ In a public company, the value is the market price of the stock.
▪ The price to pay for picking up the public asset should be respect for the pension rights of the public company employees.
Wikipedia
Public company
A public, publicly traded, publicly held company, or public corporation is a corporation whose ownership is dispersed among the general public in many shares of stock which are freely traded on a stock exchange or in over the counter markets. In some jurisdictions, public companies over a certain size must be listed on an exchange.