0 a company that does not itself do or own anything, but is used to hide a person's or another company's activities, sometimes illegal ones:
The defendants are part of two separate crime networks that use shell companies to import counterfeit luxury goods.
Major exporters can shelter some overseas earnings from tax by funneling sales through offshore shell companies.
The indictment shows a five-year effort by company executives to set up three different shell companies.
Another popular offshore vehicle is the international business corporation, or IBC, which can be a mere shell company designed to keep the owner's identity secret.
A shell company was set up and people were paid through dividends rather than wages.
If something goes wrong, the shell company has no assets in it.
The articles of the shell company will be replaced by articles appropriate to a public company.
I assume that "the successor company" means the final company and not the shell company.