Joint-stock company
Sociedad anónima por acciones (VOC)
- Date
- 1602 · confidence high
- Place
- Amsterdam, Netherlands (London: East India Company, 1600)
- Credited to
- States General of the Netherlands (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie); the English East India Company (1600)
- Field
- Communication
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A company with permanent capital divided into transferable shares, limited liability for shareholders and delegated management, endowed with a trade monopoly and quasi-sovereign powers. A key institution of capitalism and colonialism.
The English East India Company (1600) is earlier, but it was financed voyage by voyage until 1657; the VOC had permanent capital from the outset. Precedents can be found in the Casa di San Giorgio (Genoa, 1407).
What it led to
- The Dutch and English mercantile colonial empires
- The stock exchange and the capital market
- The separation of ownership and management, and corporate governance
- The modern corporation and speculative bubbles (the South Sea Bubble, 1720)
Built on
- Double-entry bookkeeping1340
- Double-entry bookkeeping (Pacioli's treatise)1494
- Commenda and Italian companies
- English regulated companies
Made possible
- Stock exchange1602 (mercado) / 1611 (edificio)
- Bank of England (1694)
- Industrial corporation