Which of the following is an example of a privatised company?

• A. The Royal Mail was sold directly to a private investor.
• B. The Royal Mail remains fully government-owned.
• C. The Royal Mail was floated on the stock market in 2013.
• D. A government-owned airline becomes a private monopoly.

Answer: (B)

Privatisation means moving ownership from the public sector to private ownership, typically by selling shares to private investors or listing the company on the stock market. The Royal Mail being floated on the stock market in 2013 is the clearest example because it explicitly transferred ownership to private shareholders, turning a government-owned entity into a private one with its shares traded publicly. If it remains fully government-owned, that is not privatization. A sale to a private investor could be privatization, but a straightforward flotation is the classic demonstration. A government-owned airline becoming private touches ownership change, but the emphasis there is more on the ownership shift rather than the method of privatization.