[quote=@Vilageidiotx] Well, "Small private business" is more of a modern thing. The modern small business comes from industrialism making things cheap. At this time period, things we would call "Businesses" were mostly owned by wealthy people, and everything else was skilled labor. This is why merchants tended to be the focus of bankers in those days. Off the top of my head, the closest thing to a small business I can think of would be an Inn or a Brothel. What you are describing is basically normal business practices between individuals, but you are inserting trademark law in there somehow. "Buying out" a Merchant would be buying his stuff and selling it yourself, which would make you just another merchant. You could definitely buy up inns and brothels and ships, that's what a wealthy merchant would do. Ships are the dangerous investment that pays off the most, while inns, stables, and brothels are the rare example of a business that doesn't require specialized labor, though they won't exactly make you super-wealthy. Other things, like blacksmiths or cobblers, wouldn't sell out because their labor set is so specialized they don't have any reason to sell out. They aren't in competition with so many other blacksmiths that they can't make do on their own. [/quote] By small businesses, I was thinking that perhaps a farmer with acres full of vegetables goes into the market to sell. I was thinking that perhaps by investing in this farmer, the investor can put that farmer in a more lucrative position and gives his farm more attention and is able to sell off more of his product. The investor makes money off of shares, and the farmer makes money because he is selling more of his cabbages than he ever did before. Though I could be far off, since I am not super familiar with medieval trade practices. Also assuming that someone is in possession of a mineral rich location full of metal veins, my hypothetical merchant can either wrest control of it by buying it out. Or that the person who has it on their property doesn't have the money or means to mine the valuable metal, so the merchant can invest in that and supply miners and equipment. Your examples of taverns, brothels, and ships are also good! Nothing smells as good as the exploitation of your people.