A maneuver that is often used by a privately-held company which has failed to secure an exchange listing,. By backdoor listing, and in order to go public, the company merges with, or acquires, an existing company that is already listed on the exchange. In so doing, a privately-held company can either avoid the burdensome and complex process of going public or overcome its failure to meet all exchange listing requirements. The acquired public company is often called a “shell” as nothing will still exist of the original company, except its organizational structure.

Backdoor listing is also known as reverse takeover, reverse acquisition, reverse IPO, or reverse merger.