privately-held

If, as I have, you've worked in a wide range of both privately-held and publicly-traded companies, you'll have noticed that one of the biggest differences between them is the degree of honest interaction at the very top.

Les McKeown: The Vital Missing Voice in the Economic Recovery Debate Is Someone You've Never Heard of Les McKeown 2010

That's not to say that there aren't privately-held companies where senior execs play politics, or publicly-traded organizations with a mature, no-nonsense top team, but the general tendency is that founder-owners put up with (and generate) a lot less bull-hockey, and tend much more toward straight talk.

Les McKeown: The Vital Missing Voice in the Economic Recovery Debate Is Someone You've Never Heard of Les McKeown 2010

In the last year, Ecolab acquired the assets of privately-held O.R. Solutions Inc., a Virginia-based company that develops and markets surgical fluid warming and cooling systems for about $260 million.

Ecolab Expected to Acquire Nalco for $5 Billion Gina Chon 2011

*** Travel Kuoni Holding said it is acquiring travel services provider Gullivers Travel Associates for 654 million Swiss francs $706.3 million from privately-held Travelport to expand its online holiday-bookings business.

Business Watch 2011

Also last September, the commercial laundry division of Dober Chemical Corp., a privately-held Illinois firm, was also sold to Ecolab.

Ecolab Expected to Acquire Nalco for $5 Billion Gina Chon 2011

Only about 5,000 businesses in the country are "public" companies; the rest are privately-held, run by people, who like the rest of us, worry about paying their bills, sending their kids to college, and/or saving for retirement.

Brian Hamilton: Why GDP Growth Has Not Provided Jobs Yet Brian Hamilton 2011

The government needs to understand that only the people who run privately-held businesses can create long run employment in the United States.

Brian Hamilton: Why GDP Growth Has Not Provided Jobs Yet Brian Hamilton 2011

Only about 5,000 businesses in the country are "public" companies; the rest are privately-held, run by people, who like the rest of us, worry about paying their bills, sending their kids to college, and/or saving for retirement.

Brian Hamilton: Why GDP Growth Has Not Provided Jobs Yet Brian Hamilton 2011

The government needs to understand that only the people who run privately-held businesses can create long run employment in the United States.

Brian Hamilton: Why GDP Growth Has Not Provided Jobs Yet Brian Hamilton 2011

But in the TARP I scheme, the “toxic assets” come “off the books” of privately-held banks because the government just agrees to overpay for the assets.

Matthew Yglesias » Back to the Future 2009