There are a few important differences between public and private companies. The biggest would have to be that public companies open their shares to the public whereas private companies sell to certain investors and venture capitalists. This causes deviations in the standards and rules these two types of companies must abide to. A public company must abide by SEC (Securities and Exchange Committee) regulations and must answer to their shareholders. Private companies can withhold all information from the public. The pro of the public company is that they can attain funds quickly by selling stocks. However, they have to abide by stricter regulations due to their shareholders, as mentioned earlier. For private companies, it is to their benefit to withhold information about their operations and get the upper hand in the industry, but as a result face a hard time in attaining funds when needed. In addition, if a private company attains 500 shareholders and 10 million dollars, they must abide by SEC regulations. Bechtel is the eighth largest US private company. They are an international engineering construction company with billions of dollars in revenue. Google is probably one of the most familiar public companies with a long history of achievements.