Joint-stock companies and their types are a natural result of objective processes of private property development and its transformation. At a certain stage, production, technology, organization of finance create all the prerequisites for the emergence of a new form of organization of production, the basis of which is the voluntary participation of several shareholders. By investing in such an enterprise, shareholders take responsibility for it and become its owners.
Joint-stock companies and their types make it possible to attract the capital of many participants into one organization. Moreover, shareholders may even be persons who, for certain reasons, will not be engaged in entrepreneurial activity themselves. The liability of AO participants is determined by the size of their contribution.
This form of participation in the work of the enterprise makes it applicable in absolutely any field where there is a need to limit the share of responsibility of the participant.
Joint-stock company is one of the options for the legal form of enterprises. Joint-stock companies and their types are created by combining the capital (centralization of funds) of various persons, which is carried out by means of putting up for sale shares that give the right to participate in the activities of the enterprise and make a profit.
According to the definition of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, joint-stock companies in Russia are commercial organizations whose authorized capital is divided into shares, which are proof of the rights of participants (shareholders) in the work and ownership of the enterprise.
Joint-stock companies and their types are divided into open and closed. This is reflected in the charter and name of the organization.
Open joint-stock companies have the right to alienate their shares without the obligatory consent of all shareholders. A company of this type has the right to conduct an open subscription to issued shares and sell them freely, which is fixed by the legislation of the Russian Federation. The company may also conduct private subscription to its shares, with the exception of cases when such an opportunity is limited by the charter of the company or the requirements of certain legal acts of the Russian Federation.
An unlimited number of participants can become shareholders of a public company. Such a society is characterized by a serious scale of capital pooling and a large number of owners. The main idea of such a society, which arises even at the time of its creation, is to attract and concentrate large sums of money (capital) of legal entities as well as individuals in order to use them in the future and make a profit.
Closed joint-stock companies are enterprises whose shares can only be distributed among participants. A CJSC is not entitled to carry out an open subscription for issued shares.
No more than fifty people can participate in a closed society. If there is a need to increase the number of participants in excess of the established norm, then the company must transform into an open company during the year. Otherwise, it may be liquidated by the court.
Closed types of joint-stock companies provide their members with priority rights to purchase shares sold by other participants in the same company. If shareholders do not use their primary right, then the company itself has the right to redeem them as a priority.
The charter of the companies establishes the terms and a certain procedure by which the priority right to acquire shares is exercised. So, the term for exercising preemptive rights should be an interval of at least 30 and no more than 60 days after the offer of a stock for purchase.
Societies, whose founders are the Russian Federation, as well as its subject, can only be open.