From: Mark Carter 
Newsgroups: uk.finance uk.finance.stockmarket
Subject: Re: What happens if a company buys back all shares ?
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 19:05:21 +0100


> Now, what happens if a company buys back every single outstanding
> share?

I don't think it's ever been done.

> Is this possible?

I can't quote chapter and verse on this, but I believe that there must 
be a certain minimum number of shareholders for a company to remain a 
plc. 50 seems to ring a bell.

If a limited company (cf a *public* limited company) were to ever to 
reduce itself to one shareholder, then that shareholder would be liable 
for the debts of the company. That's why, when setting up a company, it 
is usual for one share is given to the wife.

> And if so, will the company then own itself?

Maybe it would just disappear in a cloud of smoke.

As an interesting aside - when Mrs Thatch was running the country in the 
80's, the government looked into the ownership of the bank TSB. 
Apparently, some lawyers came to the conclusion that no-one owned it. So 
the Tories flogged it off to the electorate.

And what you may not know: a companies do not necessarily have to have 
shares. They could be a company limited by guarantee - such as British 
Mensa. And not all companies that have shares are limited companies. The 
clothes shop C&A's (remember them) was a company that had shareholders - 
  but it was not a limited company.