page_title: Joint-stock company
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Joint-stock company / History
caption_attribution_description: English: British India, Two mohurs (also Double Mohur) (1835), depicting King William IV.
context_page_description: A joint-stock company is a business owned by people called shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion to the number of their shares. Some shareholders may own a larger proportion of a company's share than others. Shareholders are able to transfer their shares to others without any effects on the continued existence of the company.
  Incorporation, a legal process, gives a company a legal personality separate from shareholders, and limited liability. This means the shareholders are only liable for the company's debts to the value of the money they invested in the company. So, joint-stock companies are commonly known as corporations or limited companies.
context_section_description: Finding the earliest joint-stock company is a matter of definition. Around 1250 in France at Toulouse, 96 shares of the Société des Moulins du Bazacle (Bazacle Milling Company) were traded at a value that depended on the profitability of the Society's mills. This was probably the first company of its kind in history.
  The much more famous, wealthy and powerful English (later British) East India Company was granted an English Royal Charter by Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600. The Royal Charter gave the newly created Honourable East India Company a 15-year monopoly on all trade in the East Indies. The Company transformed from a commercial trading venture to one which ruled India.
  In 1602, the Dutch East India Company issued shares that were made tradable on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. This invention helped joint-stock companies to attract capital from investors as they could now easily trade their shares. In 1612 it became the first 'corporation' in intercontinental trade with 'locked in' capital and limited liability.
caption: Gold double mohur, 30 rupees
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