How to Sell Privately Held Stocks

If you want to sell your private shares, here's how to do it.

By Lyle Daly – Updated May 26, 2025 at 12:32 PM | Fact-checked by Frank Bass

Key Points

You can ask the issuing company to buy back your privately held stock.
You may want to seek out accredited investors if selling privately due to stringent SEC rules.
Use private-securities markets to find buyers for non-public company shares.

Companies whose shares trade on public stock exchanges get most of the attention from investors, but the vast majority of companies haven't gone through the cumbersome process of initial public offerings. If you invest in a privately held company and receive stock, your options for selling your shares are much more limited. Below, we'll look at how to sell privately held stocks so you can examine your options.

Loading paragraph...

Pile of stock certificates. — Image source: Getty Images.

Loading image...

Loading paragraph...

Loading pitch...

Loading paragraph...

Related investing topics

Loading paragraph...

What Is the Nasdaq Stock Exchange?

The second-largest stock exchange in the world focuses on technology, listing over 3,000 securities.

NYSE: What Is the New York Stock Exchange?

The biggest stock exchange in the world has a long history.

The Top Stock Market Companies to Watch in 2025

There are more than 10,000 publicly traded companies on U.S. stock exchanges. Here are the largest ones.

Loading hub_pages...

Loading paragraph...

Loading pitch...

About the Author

Lyle Daly is a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst covering information technology and cryptocurrency. Lyle has been a contributor at the financial services company since 2018. His work has been featured on USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, Fox Business, and Nasdaq. Before joining The Motley Fool, he wrote for financial brands including Intuit.

TMFLyleDaly

@LyleDaly

The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.