Buyout

A buyout is the purchase of a controlling interest in a company, often taking it entirely private in the process. Buyouts can be financed with cash, debt, or a combination, and can be initiated by the company's own management (a management buyout) or by an outside private equity firm.

Once a company is taken private in a buyout, its shares stop trading on public exchanges and it is no longer required to file the periodic reports (like the 10-K and 10-Q) that public shareholders relied on, since it no longer has public shareholders to report to.