the.com/subsidiary
A company owned by another company, so it gets the blame but not the glory.
means A company that is controlled by a parent company, usually through majority ownership of its stock.
from From Latin 'subsidiarius,' meaning 'reserve' or 'in support,' itself from 'subsidium' — the reserve troops held behind the battle line, ready to back up the main forces. The word carried that sense of 'backup, auxiliary' into English by the 1600s, first describing supplementary aid or support of any kind. Its narrower business meaning — a company held in reserve behind a parent, doing the work but not commanding the field — is a natural, later extension of that original military idea.
- legal status
- separate legal entity, not just a department
- liability shield
- parent usually isn't liable for subsidiary's debts
- ownership threshold
- parent owns more than 50 percent of shares
- naming trick
- often keeps a different name to hide the parent