The types of company in China

(1) Companies may be divided into five categories according to their shareholders' responsibilities to them.

1. Unlimited company, that is, a company in which all shareholders are jointly and severally liable for the debts of the company regardless of the amount of their contribution;
2. Limited liability company: a company in which all shareholders are liable for the debts of the company within the limit of their contribution;
3. Joint venture company, a company consisting of unlimited liability shareholders and limited liability shareholders;
4. Company limited by shares, all the capital is divided into shares in equal amounts, and all shareholders shall be liable for the debts of the company within the limit of the shares they hold;
5. Joint stock company, a company consisting of unlimited liability shares and limited company shareholders. This is the most basic way to divide a company.

(2) According to the different nationalities of companies, they can be divided into domestic companies, foreign companies and multinational companies.

(3) A company can be divided into parent company and subsidiary company according to its different positions in the relationship between control and controlled.

Parent company refers to a company that owns a certain amount of shares of other companies or can control and control the personnel, financial, business and other matters of other companies according to the agreement. The most basic characteristic of the parent company is not whether it holds shares of the subsidiary, but whether it participates in the business operation of the subsidiary. A subsidiary is a company in which a certain amount of shares are controlled by another company or are actually controlled or controlled by another company according to an agreement. A subsidiary shall have the status of an independent legal person, own all its own property, its own company name, articles of association and board of directors, and carry out business and assume responsibilities independently. But major decisions or personnel arrangements involving the interests of the company will still be decided by the parent company. Article 13 (2) of Chinese Company Law stipulates that a company may establish a subsidiary, which shall have the status of an enterprise legal person and bear civil liabilities independently in accordance with law.

(4) According to the different positions of the company in the relationship between jurisdiction and jurisdiction, it can be divided into the head office and the branch office.

The head office, also known as the company, refers to the head office with the status of an enterprise legal person which is legally established and has jurisdiction over all the organizations of the company. The head office is usually established before the branch company and occupies the leading and dominant position in the internal jurisdiction system of the company. A branch is a branch that is under the jurisdiction of the Company in business, capital, personnel and other aspects but does not have the status of a legal person. The branch does not have legal and economic independence, but its establishment procedure is simple. According to Article </span><span>1</span><span> <span> in Article </span>13<span>, a company may establish a branch, which does not have the status of an enterprise legal person, and its civil liability shall be borne by the company.

(5) According to the different credit basis of the company, the company's business activities on the basis of the credit of the shareholders rather than the size of the company's capital is called a people-oriented company. Such as the unlimited corporation; A company whose business activities are based on the size of its capital is called a JV company, such as a joint stock limited company, which is a typical JV company. A company, such as a joint venture, whose establishment and operation depend on both the personal credit of the shareholders and the size of the company's capital.

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