Is the royal mail privately owned

The Royal Mail, the United Kingdom's postal service, has a complex ownership structure. Historically, it was a government-owned entity, but it has undergone significant changes in recent years.

Until 2013, the Royal Mail was a publicly owned company, known as Royal Mail Group Limited, and was 100% owned by the UK government. However, in 2013, the UK government decided to privatize the Royal Mail through an initial public offering (IPO) of shares.

As a result, the Royal Mail was listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in October 2013, and the UK government sold a majority stake in the company to the public. The IPO raised £2.6 billion (approximately $3.4 billion USD) for the government.

Today, the Royal Mail is a publicly listed company, with its shares traded on the LSE under the ticker symbol RMG. The company is no longer 100% owned by the government, but the UK government still holds a significant stake in the company.

As of March 2022, the UK government owns approximately 31.9% of the Royal Mail's shares, while institutional investors, such as pension funds and investment companies, own around 44.1% of the shares. The remaining shares are held by individual investors and other entities.

While the Royal Mail is no longer fully government-owned, it is still subject to certain regulatory requirements and obligations, including the need to maintain a universal postal service and provide affordable postal services to all parts of the UK.