1.  Well, closely held companies often need the money available on the public stock exchanges.

2.  Also, publicly held companies have been under pressure to boost their bottom lines, so their stock prices continue to increase, he said.

3.  Also yesterday, Microsoft said it purchased CompareNet, a privately held San Francisco company that provides an Internet comparison shopping service, for an undisclosed purchase price.

4.  Although Starwave, a privately held company, would not disclose financial data on its operations, company executives concede that Mr. Showbiz is still operating in the red.

5.  AMG is a closely held Boston company that invests in mid-size money management firms.

6.  Amazon will market automobiles through an alliance with Greenlight.com, a privately held online company owned by several big chains of auto dealerships and by various venture capitalists.

7.  Among the hottest prospects is VA Research, a privately held Mountain View company that makes computer workstations based on Linux.

8.  Among the major investors in the privately held company was Vulcan Ventures, the venture capital fund of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft.

9.  An investment in Platinum Wireless, a privately held California company that sells wireless services to businesses, ended unhappily, though Fox made money on the deal.

10.  Analysts say this is the largest private investment in a privately held on-line company.