Article
What Is Company Hierarchy Data? Parent ... - DataMerge
datamerge.ai
Quoted on this wiki
Every place a page here uses this source, in the order the words come in it.
Company hierarchy data maps the ownership relationships between legal entities. It answers questions like: Who owns this company? What subsidiaries does this company have? What's the top-level parent of this corporate group? “It is a map of which registered companies own which other registered companies, which is why it comes from company registers rather than from anyone's HR system.” The corporate linkage taxonomy
Company hierarchy data maps the ownership relationships between legal entities. It answers questions like: Who owns this company? What subsidiaries does this company have? What's the top-level parent of this corporate group? “It is not a picture of a company's internal structure.” The corporate linkage taxonomy
Corporate linkage is the industry vocabulary for the relationships between entities in a group. Eight terms cover almost every case, and providers use them inconsistently, which is a large part of why hierarchy data is hard to compare: “The top-level parent of the entire corporate group worldwide, the entity not owned by any other company.” The distinction that catches people out most often is subsidiary versus branch. A subsidiary is its own company with its own registration and its own liability. A branch is the same company operating somewhere else. Screening, billing and credit decisions all turn on that difference.
The corporate linkage taxonomy “Corporate linkage is the industry vocabulary for the relationships between entities in a group.” Global ultimate The top-level parent of the entire corporate group worldwide, the entity not owned by any other company. For any Google entity anywhere, the global ultimate is Alphabet Inc. Domestic ultimate The highest entity within a single country. Google Germany GmbH sits under a domestic ultimate in DE, even though the global ultimate is Alphabet Inc. in the US. Parent The entity that owns a controlling stake one level up. Google LLC’s parent is Alphabet Inc. Subsidiary A separately incorporated company majority-owned by a parent. Google Germany GmbH is a subsidiary of Google LLC. Branch An operating location of a parent with no separate legal identity. A branch trades under the parent’s registration; it is not its own company. Division An internal organizational unit, not a legal entity at all. Divisions exist on the org chart, not in the company register. HQ The headquarters entity of an organization, the registered principal place of business for that group or country. Single location A standalone entity with no parent and no subsidiaries. Most companies in any registry are single locations.
The corporate linkage taxonomy “Eight terms cover almost every case, and providers use them inconsistently, which is a large part of why hierarchy data is hard to compare:” Global ultimate The top-level parent of the entire corporate group worldwide, the entity not owned by any other company. For any Google entity anywhere, the global ultimate is Alphabet Inc. Domestic ultimate The highest entity within a single country. Google Germany GmbH sits under a domestic ultimate in DE, even though the global ultimate is Alphabet Inc. in the US. Parent The entity that owns a controlling stake one level up. Google LLC’s parent is Alphabet Inc. Subsidiary A separately incorporated company majority-owned by a parent. Google Germany GmbH is a subsidiary of Google LLC. Branch An operating location of a parent with no separate legal identity. A branch trades under the parent’s registration; it is not its own company. Division An internal organizational unit, not a legal entity at all. Divisions exist on the org chart, not in the company register. HQ The headquarters entity of an organization, the registered principal place of business for that group or country. Single location A standalone entity with no parent and no subsidiaries. Most companies in any registry are single locations.
Where does company hierarchy data come from? “Registry data is authoritative but fragmented: every country publishes it differently, which is why coverage and reconciliation vary so much between providers.” How do I get company hierarchy data for my own accounts?
Three failure modes follow from it, and they are worth recognising in any provider's data: “Corporate structures change constantly through acquisitions, divestitures and restructuring.” It is often the whole tree, not the part you asked about. Look up Google and a tree dump gives you every Alphabet entity, Waymo and DeepMind included. If you wanted Google's German subsidiary, you now have 200 entities to filter.