Ask Matt: Is this company publicly traded?

Q: Is this company publicly traded?

A: It’s good to know if a company’s shares trade in the hands of the public. It’s usually a straightforward process to find out.

There are many reasons why you might want to know if a company is publicly traded. If you’re interviewing for a job, a company that is public will likely provide much more financial information for you to look up. You might also want to know if a company is publicly traded if you want to invest in it. Online quotation pages of most financial web sites will usually quickly tell you if a company is public or not. Paste BN’s Money section, at money.usatoday.com, for instance will allow you to enter the name of a company and will give you the company’s ticker symbol and financial information if it’s publicly traded. If you don’t find the company, check other sources to confirm. There is a caveat to all this. The term publicly traded can mean a variety of things. For instance, companies listed on a major exchange like the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq must maintain listing requirements including financial standards. Some others trade on lightly regulated marketplaces like the Pink Sheets or OTC Bulletin Board, which don’t the same listing requirements.

Paste BN markets reporter Matt Krantz answers a different reader question every weekday. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com or on Twitter @mattkrantz.