The joint-stock company

A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders without any effects to the continued existence of the company.

In China, the earliest records of joint-stock companies appear during the  dynasties of Tang (618 - 907) and Song (960 - 1279). 

In Europe, the earlierest joint-stock company was found 1350 in France at Toulouse.