what is equity 
equity referred to as shareholders equity or owners equity for privately held companies represents the amount of money that would be returned to a company s shareholders if all of the assets were liquidated and all of the company s debt was paid off in the case of liquidation in the case of acquisition it is the value of company sales minus any liabilities owed by the company not transferred with the sale in addition shareholder equity can represent the book value of a company equity can sometimes be offered as payment in kind it also represents the pro rata ownership of a company s shares equity can be found on a company s balance sheet and is one of the most common pieces of data employed by analysts to assess a company s financial health investopedia katie kerpel