Affiliate (commerce)
The term affiliate is used to describe the relationship between two entities wherein one owns less than a majority stake in the other's stock. Affiliations can also describe a type of relationship in which at least two different companies are subsidiaries of a larger parent company.A corporation may be referred to as an "affiliate" of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid the appearance of control. This is sometimes seen with companies that need to avoid restrictive laws on foreign ownership.
