Can a company go without shareholders?

[joyvelvet.]

My sister wants to tell that a company can be owned/ran by one person. I told her that a company is owned by shareholders and shareholders can vote to over throw the CEO but she wants to tell me that if one person owns the company no one can over throw her because there is no shareholders. What you think???

[yeoksi_xo]

i'd say no but i'm not that educated on finance or something 

[Mr. Phoenix]

In a private corporation, all of the shares can be held by a single owner - so your sister is right.

[Vanilla Cupcake]

Yea you can be a sole proprietor or a private company.

[Trashie]

yes sure there can be

[caipirinhas]

Just don't go public!

[YamaChan]

Yup. Like everyone said. If the company never goes public, then there doesn't have to be shareholders. Some of the largest mutual fund companies in the world, including the largest, actually aren't public.

[atlkpopfan]

Not every company is publicly listed.  So yes, there are a lot of very successful companies who are CEOs with no shareholders.