Business owner lookup: who owns a company?

Short answer: no single public list names the owners of U.S. businesses. Who owns a company shows up in different records depending on what kind of business it is: officers on state filings, large shareholders on SEC reports, board members on a nonprofit's Form 990, and the owner's own name on a DBA or property record.

Where the owner's name appears, by type of business

Type of business	Record that usually names people	Where to search
Corporation	Officers and directors on the annual report	The home state's Secretary of State business search
LLC	Managers, members or the organizer, depending on the state	State record, then the articles of organization image
Publicly traded company	Holders of more than 5% on Schedules 13D and 13G; officer and director stakes on Form 4 and the proxy statement	SEC EDGAR
Nonprofit	Officers, directors and key employees on Form 990	Our EIN lookup, which reads IRS filing data
Sole proprietor using a trade name	The owner's legal name on the assumed name filing	County clerk or state DBA index

How to find out who owns a business, step by step

A business owner search works best in this order, from the free state record outward.

Confirm the legal name and home state. A storefront name is often a DBA. Run a nationwide business entity search to find the state where the company was formed.
Read every name on the state record. Officers, managers, the organizer or incorporator, and whoever signed the latest annual report.
Open older filings. Owners who now use a registered agent service often listed themselves on the first report.
Check the money trail. A UCC lien search and the county property records can show a member who signed a loan or deed.
Look at licenses and court cases. City business licenses and lawsuits often name a responsible person.

LLC owner lookup: how to see who owns an LLC

LLC ownership is the hardest case because the members are set out in the private operating agreement. Some states still publish names. Florida and Alaska usually list managers or members, while Delaware, Wyoming and New Mexico usually show only the registered agent. The LLC lookup guide has the state-by-state table.

When the record names only an agent

Try the formation document image, then filings in other states where the LLC registered as a foreign entity. Those registrations sometimes list a manager the home state does not ask for.

Ownership information that stays private

Beneficial ownership reports. FinCEN does not publish them, and U.S.-formed companies have been exempt from filing since March 2025.
Private company shareholders. Stock ledgers of private corporations are not filed with the state.
Tax returns. Business income tax returns are confidential; only a nonprofit's Form 990 is public.

In a lawsuit, ownership can be requested in discovery, and federal courts require most corporate parties to file a disclosure statement naming any parent company or public owner of 10% or more of their stock.

Business owner lookup questions

Can I find out who owns a company for free?

Often, yes. State business records, SEC EDGAR filings, nonprofit Form 990s, county DBA indexes and property records are free to search. Certified copies and some court records carry a fee.

How do I see who owns an LLC?

Open the LLC record in its home state and read the managers, members or authorized persons, then the formation document and older annual reports. If all of those show only a registered agent, the owner list sits in the private operating agreement.

Can I find a business owner by name?

Some states let you search the business register by officer or registered agent name, Florida among them. Elsewhere, property, UCC and court records are the usual way to connect a person to a company.

Does a registered agent own the company?

Usually not. A registered agent only accepts legal papers for the company. Commercial agent services represent thousands of companies they have no stake in.

Is the federal beneficial ownership database public?

No. FinCEN does not publish beneficial ownership reports, and companies formed in the United States have been exempt from filing them since March 2025.

Sources

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