The public have bought stock (a.k.a partial ownership of the company), so the public owns it.

You have bought a Ferrari, so you own it.

Having performed an "Initial Public Offering" (IPO) means explicitly that the public has purchased, at least in part, ownership of your company.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_company

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_sector

> The public have bought stock (a.k.a partial ownership of the company), so the public owns it.

No. Members of the public can own stock. The public does not own stock.

> You have bought a Ferrari, so you own it.

No. I have not purchased a Ferrari, so I do not own one.

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_company

This link does not talk about public ownership.

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_sector

This link talks about public ownership in the same way I have explained.

You are not the public. You are a member of the public.

> No. Members of the public can own stock. The public does not own stock.

Members of the public own stock, so the public owns stock. Your distinction here is pedantic at best, but generally plain wrong.

> No. I have not purchased a Ferrari, so I do not own one.

It seems the concept of a metaphor struggles to take grasp. I'll leave progress in this area to those certified.

> This link does not talk about public ownership.

It's very literally the first line.

If you're going to be a pedant, be right.

This is getting painful to watch. He is right, you are wrong. He isn’t being pedantic, he is being precise.

“A public company is one that issues shares that are publicly traded, meaning the shares are available for anyone to buy and sell on the open market, usually very easily. Note that publicly traded companies are not publicly owned -- they are not owned or controlled by any government.”

https://www.fool.com/terms/p/publicly-traded-companies

Yeah, you're right.

Please explain the quote in my other comment from your source.

It really just seems like you're uncomfortable with the fact that you're wrong about this, having resorted to name calling. It's ok, this really is a common mistake to make. I do encourage you to read the Wikipedia links you sent though. I think they do a good job of explaining what I have said. Just remember that individuals are not the public. The public actually owns national parks. The whole public as an entity.

Actually I just found another Wikipedia page which may help elucidate this for you, if you're still having trouble with the links you posted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_ownership

I hope the first two lines will make things clear :-)

>Members of the public own stock, so the public owns stock.

You seem to be equating members of the public with the entirety of the public. You need to get this misunderstanding straightened out to correctly understand the concepts being discussed here.

If you're going to be a pedant, be right.

From your second link:

> In most cases, public companies are private enterprises in the private sector, and "public" emphasizes their reporting and trading on the public markets.