what is a partnership 
a partnership is a formal arrangement by two or more parties to manage and operate a business and share its profits there are several types of partnership arrangements in a general partnership all partners share liabilities and profits equally in other types of partnerships profits may be shared in different percentages or some partners may have limited liability partnerships may also have a silent partner in which one party is not involved in the day to day operations of the business the type of partnership that business partners choose will depend on how they want to manage day to day operations who is willing to be financially liable for the business and how they want to pay taxes investopedia matthew collinstypes of partnershipsin a broad sense a partnership can be any endeavor undertaken jointly by multiple parties the parties may be governments nonprofits enterprises businesses or private individuals the goals of a partnership also vary widely within the narrow sense of a for profit business undertaken by two or more individuals there are three main categories of partnership general partnership limited partnership and limited liability partnership in a general partnership all parties share legal and financial liability equally the individuals are personally responsible for the debts the partnership takes on profits are also shared equally the specifics of profit sharing should be laid out in writing in a partnership agreement 