the.com/silent partner
Puts up the money, takes the profit, skips the meetings and the blame.
means An investor who has put money into a business and shares its profits but has no role in daily management and no public association with the company.
from A business phrase from the 1800s, built from plain English rather than borrowed from another language — 'silent' meaning literally non-speaking at the boardroom table, and 'partner' from Old French 'parcener' (a shareholder or co-heir, ultimately tied to Latin 'pars,' meaning a share or part). The term simply describes what it names: someone who holds a part of the business but stays quiet.
- legal role
- invests capital but avoids daily management duties
- liability
- usually limited to the amount they invested
- irony
- often the loudest voice in private