If you're a public company it means that you've gone through the procedures at the SEC to be approved as a public company.

一家上市公司,是通过证交会的审查程序,而被批准为上市公司的

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

that is,people who were administered,who are governed, but in the sense of having people passing papers back and forth, and having to sign every damn thing you could ever imagine- it's just unbelievable-- before they ever thought of themselves as being citizens.

也就是被治理者,被统治者,不过让人们来回奔忙为了申请批准,还要在每一份该死的文件上签名,从这个意义上来说,在他们视自己为公民前,这是令人难以置信的

耶鲁公开课 - 1871年后的法国课程节选