Shareholders are protected from the corporation's liabilities. "Double taxation" frequently occurs, because the corporation is taxed on its profits, and shareholders are also taxed on the distributions they receive, such as profit sharing payments or dividends.
A C Corporation may be public – one in which shares are offered for sale to the public, or privately held – one in which shares are not sold to the public. Usually shares are held by the founders (often a family), by board members and by private investors, such as venture capitalists, who may or may not sit on the board of directors.
While public C corporations have far more stringent reporting requirements than privately held corporations, both must have annual shareholder meetings and minutes of those meetings must be recorded.