A joint venture (JV) is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets. There are other types of companies such as JV limited by guarantee, joint ventures limited by guarantee with partners holding shares.

In European law, the term 'joint-venture' (or joint undertaking) is an elusive legal concept, better defined under the rules of company law. In France, the term 'joint venture' is variously translated as 'association d'entreprises', 'entreprise conjointe', 'coentreprise' or 'entreprise commune'. But generally, the term societe anonyme loosely covers all foreign collaborations. In Germany, 'joint venture' is better represented as a 'combination of companies' (Konzern).

With individuals, when two or more persons come together to form a temporary partnership for the purpose of carrying out a particular project, such partnership can also be called a joint venture where the parties are "co-venturers".

Howard Marks (born Dennis Howard Marks on 13 August 1945) is a Welsh author and former drug smuggler who achieved notoriety as an international cannabis smuggler through high-profile court cases. At his peak he was supposedly smuggling consignments of the drug as large as 30 tons, and was connected with groups as diverse as the CIA, the IRA, MI6, and the Mafia. He was eventually convicted by the American Drug Enforcement Administration and handed a 25-year sentence to be served at Terre Haute, though he was released in April 1995 after serving just seven years. Though he had up to 43 different aliases, he became known as Mr. Nice, after he bought a passport from convicted murderer Donald Nice.

Marks was born in Kenfig Hill, near Bridgend, Wales, the son of Dennis Mark, a captain in the Merchant Navy, and Edna, a teacher. He has stated that his earliest memory is of throwing his father's ship's cat into the Indian Ocean; he also stated that that memory haunted him for the rest of his life, and that he was so young at the time that he had expected the cat to catch fish and then swim back to the ship. Brought up as a Baptist, he later turned to Buddhism, though he did not become a devout follower. He attended the Garw Grammar school in Pontycymer (he is a fluent Welsh speaker).