Volkseigener Betrieb (VEB; German for "Publicly Owned Enterprise") was the main legal form for state-owned enterprises in the planned economy of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). VEBs constituted the majority of the economy of East Germany, including most industrial and service enterprises, and employed 79.9% of the East German workforce by 1989.
VEBs were organised by the State Planning Commission of the Council of Ministers, first into vertically integrated units called Associations of Publicly Owned Enterprises Vereinigung Volkseigener Betriebe (VVBs) until these were reformed into Kombinat by the 1980s. Production and investment were set by the State Planning Commission and ministry industries under the control of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. VEBs struggled to compete in the market economy during German reunification due to outdated and labour intensive practices, which made many of them unprofitable and heavily in debt. Around 8,000 VEBs were transferred to the Treuhandanstalt for privatisation and most were liquidated from 1990 to 1994.