joint-stock company

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A business whose capital is held in transferable shares of stock by its joint owners.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun business, law, UK A company with transferable ownership interests and limited shareholder liability.
• noun business, law, US A company with transferable ownership interests and unlimited shareholder liability.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a company (usually unincorporated) which has the capital of its members pooled in a common fund; transferable shares represent ownership interest; shareholders are legally liable for all debts of the company