holding company

American  

noun

Finance.

1. a company that controls other companies through stock ownership but that usually does not engage directly in their productive operations (distinguished from parent company).

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holding company British  

noun

1. a company with controlling shareholdings in one or more other companies

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holding company Cultural  

1. A company that controls other companies.

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Etymology

Origin of holding company

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

The team’s holding company is also planning to construct a riverside park and 2,000 housing units.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026

Lupa Systems, the media and tech holding company owned by James Murdoch, is set to acquire nearly half of Vox Media.

From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026

He and his two younger sisters currently share control of a holding company that has a 95% stake in Mango.

From BBC • May 20, 2026

It had been the Amsterdam-based holding company that owned Russia’s Yandex, a tech conglomerate with a search engine, a cloud-computing arm and a ride-hailing service.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026

In fact, Duke’s interest in his giant holding company waned soon after its creation.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Related Words

• conglomerate
• consortium
• corporation
• gang
• mob
• monopoly
• ring
• syndicate