Significance of Tessier-Ashpool S.A.

A business and a family. Presumably, the business is traded on the open market, but no shares have been traded for over one hundred years. It is based in an orbiting station named Freeside, or The Spindle, and the tip of the spindle is The Villa Straylight (p. 101). Tessier-Ashpool has been around for several generations and is incredibly wealthy. Some family members spend a lot of time in cryogenic sleep, including Ashpool, one of the original founders. The family consists of apparently only two members at the novel's conclusion.