Troubleshooting my SQL query

[eluser]jonyork[/eluser]

$this->db->last_query();

Code:

$company = $this->db->last_query();

echo $company;

returns with SELECT `company` FROM (`user`) WHERE `username` = 'jonathan'

print_r($company->row());

returns with stdClass Object ( [company] => ValueDesired )


Forgive me for being new at CI, but where/what do I do to get it as string variable $company?