Do You Have The Right Business Entity?


by Patrick Gibson - Date: 2008-10-06 - Word Count: 425 Share This!

When you start a business, you need a plan. Part of the plan should be your exit strategy. For many people, the ideal exit plan is to take the company public and hire professional executives to run it. To do this, you must pick the correct business entity when starting the business.
What are we referring to when discussing business entities? There are various forms you can hold a business in such as partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability companies and corporations. Only one of these entities, however, can be taken public.
The corporation and limited liability company are by far the most popular entity choices these days. Why? Each can be used to shield the owners from problems arising from the functioning of the business. If the business gets sued, the owners do no lose their homes.
Many people think the LLC has been around for a long time. It has not. The first one was formed in the late 1970s in Wyoming. The state passed law giving rise to it to boost tax revenues and help out small businesses.
This, of course, resulted in all the other states passing similar laws, right? Actually, no. It was not until roughly ten years later when the IRS said LLCs could be taxed as partnerships that other states started paying attention.
Suddenly, the LLC looked like a super business entity. States rushed to create laws allowing for their formation. Business entity lawyers rejoiced in a golden age and small businesses actually had a business entity that worked.
This mad rush eventually resulted in some problems. People began to realize the LLC was not all it was cracked up to be. State fees could be high. One of the biggest was discovered when people tried to take their limited liability companies public.
A limited liability company is truly designed for small business situations. It is not and was never intended to be used for large entities. As a result, the owners of an LLC have percentage interests in the company. They do not own shares because there are no shares.
To take a company public, the ownership must be held in shares. Otherwise, how can the ownership be bought and sold on an exchange? This is why you see all large, publicly traded entities with shares and dividends based on shares.
Taking a company public is a way to make millions of dollars. If you have visions of doing this one day, make sure to get off on the right foot. Choose a corporation as your business entity.

Related Tags: law, corporation, exit strategy, llc, business entity

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