''Société par actions simplifiée'' (SAS; simplified

joint-stock company A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareho ...

in British English or simplified corporation in American English) is a French type of business entity. It is the first hybrid entity enacted under

French law French law has a dual jurisdictional system comprising private law (), also known as judicial law, and public law (). Judicial law includes, in particular: * () * Criminal law () Public law includes, in particular: * Administrative law ( ...

and based on

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

principles rather than civil. It is similar to a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

under

United States law The law of the United States comprises many levels of Codification (law), codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is the nation's Constitution of the United States, Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the ...

, as the Delaware LLC was the model used by the French government. The SAS is also similar to the

limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...

in British law, and most other hybrids, though the hybrid in civil-law countries is quite different because there is also a hybrid of common law principles applied. A ''société par actions simplifiée'' has its annual statements audited by an independent body and published. The head of a ''société par actions simplifiée'' is its ''président''. However, unlike the '' société anonyme'', it does not have a board. The ''président'' is also responsible for the operation of the company. The company may also have a ''directeur général'' (

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

), who has the same authority as the ''président'' with respect to third parties. The ''président'' can be either a physical person or a corporation, if there is only one shareholder. An SAS with only one shareholder is known as a ''société par actions simplifiée unipersonnelle'' (SASU). The ''société par actions simplifiée'' form of organization is useful for companies that are wholly owned

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

of another company, often a

publicly traded A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

corporation, since it does not need a complex capital equity structure. An example of this is European aerospace giant

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

, which is an SAS wholly owned by a Dutch-based ''

societas Europaea A (, ; "European society" or "company"; plural: ; abbr. SE) is a public company registered in accordance with the European corporate law, corporate law of the European Union (EU), introduced in 2004 with the Council Regulation on the Statute ...

'' of the same name. It is also useful for companies held by families or small, close-knit groups of families. For example, the Louis Dreyfus Group, a trading conglomerate, is held in this manner by members of the Louis-Dreyfus family.

References

Legal entities Types of companies of France {{Business-stub ru:Непубличное акционерное общество