Quasi-public Corporation

A quasi-public corporation is a privately operated company that is also supported by the government and trades publicly. Because a quasi-public corporation has government backing, it is often required to carry out specifically mandated responsibilities; this is typically the primary responsibility of a quasi-public corporation - creating shareholder value by issuing stocks comes second. Another way to view a quasi-public corporation is as a government unit with an important, significant degree of autonomy; still, a quasi-public corporation is technically in the private sector, though it has strong links to the federal government. As such, the managers and executives of a quasi-public corporation do not work for the government - they work for the corporation itself. A quasi-public corporation may result because the government wants to promote a particular activity, such as student loans, but does not want the administrative burden that accompany the activity. An example of a quasi-public corporation is the US Postal Service or Sallie Mae.