A privately owned company with a public mandate.

This mandate includes specific responsibilities that are delineated in the company's legal charter. Although they can usually issue stocks publicly, the primary obligation of quasi-public corporations is fulfilling the responsibilities enumerated in their mandates. This makes creating shareholder value a secondary objective. Often quasi-public corporations have some kind of government backing, for example of their direct debt obligations. Essentially, quasi-public corporations have been granted a monopoly by the government to provide a specific service, often for a designated region.

Examples of quasi-public corporations include utilities or cable television, in general. More specifically, COMSAT (Communications Satellite Corporation) is a quasi-public corporation established for the purpose of encouraging the development of space. Similarly, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) was created to foster growth in the secondary mortgage market, and the Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae) was designed to serve the purpose of promoting growth in the student loan market.