McDonald's became a publicly traded company in 1965.
The company offered shares to the public during a major period of expansion under Ray Kroc. Going public gave McDonald's access to additional capital as it increased the number of franchised and company-operated restaurants across the United States.
The 1965 milestone is part of the company's corporate-brand history because it marked McDonald's transition from a rapidly expanding restaurant business into a large public corporation. It also occurred shortly after the company adopted the Golden Arches as its official logo in 1962.
This date is sometimes mixed up with the opening of Kroc's first franchised restaurant, which occurred in 1955. The two events describe different stages of McDonald's development.