Literally a public company is a company owned by the public[?]. Usually this means that the company is guided by the state and that making profit is not its primary goal. Privatization is a trend related to globalization with the result that more and more public companies are becoming 'normal' companies.
... choreographer (+ 1983)
January 26 - Ancel Keys, scientist
February 1 - S. J. Perelman[?], humorist, author
February 4 - MacKinlay Kantor[?], historian (+ ...