Part of the Business terms glossary:

A subsidiary is a business that is wholly or partially owned by another business, sometimes called the parent company or holding company. The parent company owns sufficient voting stock in the subsidiary -- as a rule, at least 50% -- to give it control over the subsidiary's operations and management. In a wholly-owned subsidiary, the parent company owns 100% of the stock. 

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A parent company with subsidiaries is one type of conglomerate, which is a company that comprises multiple different businesses.  

This was last updated in March 2013
Contributor(s): Ivy Wigmore
Posted by: Margaret Rouse

Related Terms

Definitions

  • parent company (holding company)

    - A parent company is a corporation that has subsidiaries, which are wholly or partially-owned separate businesses controlled by the parent. (WhatIs.com)

  • conglomerate

    - A conglomerate is a company that comprises multiple different corporations. The most common type of conglomerate is a parent company with subsidiaries. (WhatIs.com)

  • affiliate (associate)

    - An affiliate or associate business is a company with a parent corporation that owns less than a controlling percentage of the company's voting stock. (WhatIs.com)

Glossaries

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    - This WhatIs.com glossary contains terms related to Internet applications, including definitions about Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery models and words and phrases about web sites, e-commerce ...

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