Nationalization

Nationalization refers to a public entity, usually a federal government, acquiring private assets of a company.

The nationalization of companies is often thought of within the context of socialism, communism and fascism. However, in democratic countries like the US and Canada, many companies and industries have been nationalized.

In the US, the Postal Service is a nationalized company. Many critics believed that the government's recent investment in Citigroup (C) was a form of nationalization. In a more socialist country like Canada, there is more nationalization where companies like the Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC), VIA Rail and the Bank of Canada are wholly owned by the government.

The oil industry has a history of nationalizations in other countries. For example, the oil fields in Saudi Arabia used to be wholly owned and operated by American corporations like Standard Oil (Exxon). Saudi Arabia started to nationalize its oil fields in the 1950's and created the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) which has been a company wholly owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 1980.

Nationalization is a risk for any company operating overseas.

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