What Is Public Relations (PR) in Business?

What Is Public Relations?

By Kristi Waterworth – Updated Dec 13, 2025 at 3:08 PM EST

Key Points

PR teams manage public perception, influencing stock prices positively or negatively.
Effective PR keeps investors engaged, potentially stabilizing stock prices during crises.
Understanding PR's role can guide investors in making informed portfolio decisions.

Virtually every modern business has a public relations (PR) department or representative. PR can have a huge impact on the public perception of a publicly traded business, even to the extent that stock prices can be influenced by either good or bad PR.

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Person typing on a laptop at a desk. — Image source: Getty Images

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Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

A chief executive officer, or CEO, is in charge of running the day-to-day operations of an organization.

Has the company released a new, world-changing product? Maybe it’s not that dynamic once you really look beyond the hype. Is the current CEO’s scandal a bigger deal than the company is letting on? Again, the job of the public relations team is to keep consumers and investors engaged, so sometimes they will do all they can to round out the jagged corners of a scandal.

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About the Author

Kristi Waterworth has been a contributing real estate and financial expert at The Motley Fool, covering real estate, investing, and personal finance topics, since 2020. Kristi has been interviewed by various TV media outlets and podcasts for her real estate investing expertise – from residential real estate to digital real estate and everything in between. Kristi’s journalist career spans over 25 years, and she has written about real estate investing, homeownership, and home construction specifically for the last decade. She was also previously a licensed Realtor and general building contractor before the Great Recession and housing market collapse. She holds a bachelor’s degree in American history from Columbia College in Missouri.

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Kristi Waterworth has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.