Société à responsabilité limitée in the context of "Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung"

In a limited company, the 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 shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the liability of members is limited to the unpaid value of shares. In a company limited by guarantee, the liability of owners is limited to such amount as the owners may undertake to contribute to the assets of the company, in the event of being wound up. The former may be further divided in public companies (public limited companies) and private companies (private limited companies). Who may become a member of a private limited company is restricted by law and by the company's rules. In contrast, anyone may buy shares in a public limited company.

Limited companies can be found in most countries, although the detailed rules governing them vary widely. It is also common for a distinction to be made between the publicly tradable companies of the plc type (for example, the German Aktiengesellschaft (AG), Dutch and Belgian nv, British PLC, Czech a.s., Italian S.p.A., Hungarian nyrt. and the Spanish, French, Polish, Greek and Romanian S.A.), and the "private" types of companies (such as the German GmbH, Dutch and Belgian bv, Portuguese Lda., British Ltd, Japanese G.K., Polish sp. z o.o., Russian ООО, Ukrainian ТОВ (TOV), the Czech s.r.o., the French s.à r.l., the Italian s.r.l., Romanian s.r.l., Hungarian kft., Bulgarian ДОО (DOO), Slovenian d.o.o., and Slovak s.r.o., in India Pvt Ltd for private company and Ltd for public company, in Singapore Pte Ltd for private company).

A private limited company is any type of business entity in "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Examples include: the LLC in the United States, private company limited by shares in the United Kingdom, GmbH in Germany and Austria, Besloten vennootschap (BV) in The Netherlands and Belgium, société à responsabilité limitée (SARL) in France, società a responsabilità limitata (S.r.l.) in Italy, and sociedad de responsabilidad limitada (SRL) in the Spanish-speaking world. The benefit of having a private limited company is that there is limited liability.

The Studios Hergé (French pronunciation: [stydjo ɛʁʒe]) were, between 1950 and 1986, a SARL company consisting of Belgian cartoonist Hergé and his collaborators, who assisted him with the creation of The Adventures of Tintin and derived products. Over the years, the studios had between 12 and 50 employees, including some prestigious artists like Jacques Martin, Bob de Moor and Roger Leloup.

Every creation produced by the studios was attributed to Hergé alone, except for three albums of Quick & Flupke which are attributed to Studios Hergé on the cover.

A besloten vennootschap (Dutch pronunciation: [bəˈsloːtə(ɱ) ˈvɛnoːtsxɑp], lit. "private partnership"; besloten vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid, lit. 'closed company with limited liability', abbr. bv) or société à responsabilité limitée (SRL) is the Dutch and Belgian version of a private limited liability company. The company is owned by shareholders; the company's shares are privately registered and not freely transferable. It is the most common form of limited company in the Netherlands and Belgium.

A Dutch bv may be created by one or more individuals or legal entities, Dutch or foreign, with a minimum paid in capital of €1. A notarized deed of incorporation is executed and filed. The deed must be in Dutch. It must contain details of the incorporators, and of the initial Members of the Board, their amounts of participation and payments of initial capital. The deed also contains the Articles of Association, consisting of at least:

Skype Technologies (also known as Skype Software, Skype Communications, Skype Inc., and Skype Limited) was a telecommunications company headquartered in Luxembourg City, whose chief business was the development and marketing of the video chat and instant messaging computer software program Skype, and various Internet telephony services associated with it. Microsoft purchased the company in 2011, and it had since then operated as their wholly owned subsidiary; as of 2016, it was operating as part of Microsoft's Office Product Group. The company was a société à responsabilité limitée, or SARL, equivalent to an American limited liability company.

Skype, a voice over IP (VoIP) service, was first released in 2003 as a way to make free computer-to-computer calls, or reduced-rate calls from a computer to telephones. Support for paid services such as calling landline/mobile phones from Skype (formerly called SkypeOut), allowing landlines and mobile phones to call Skype (formerly called SkypeIn and now Skype Number), and voice messaging generated the majority of Skype's revenue.