“Inc.” stands for “incorporated.” If you see it after the name of a company, it means that company is legally incorporated in at least one state. The founders have filled out all the paperwork, paid all the fees, and is viewed as a corporation by the government and the IRS.
Let’s look a the structure of a corporation, which most Incs. are. Corporations have three main tiers of management: shareholders, directors, and officers.
Shareholders The shareholders of a corporation are the owners. They’re the ones who “hold” shares of stock. Depending on how much stock they own, they have varying degrees of influence on the corporation — but they don’t make the decisions or run the d...