Researching Company Ownership
Markdown--- name: researching-company-ownership description: Verifies a target company's legal identity, former/trading names, parent company, completed acquisitions, subsidiaries, and owned brands using primary and reputable secondary sources. Use when starting a new digital-asset research engagement, before any domain, app, GitHub, DAM, or typography research, or when a later research stage surfaces a possibly-related company or brand that needs ownership verification. --- # Researching Company Ownership, Acquisitions, Subsidiaries & Brands This is Stage 1 of a multi-stage digital-asset investigation. It establishes the verified set of companies and brands that later stages (domains, apps, GitHub, DAM, typography) will research. Do not perform any of those later research types in this skill.
Only report an asset as owned/controlled by the target company when there is sufficient evidence of current ownership or control. Accuracy beats completeness. A short verified list beats a long speculative one. Never convert "likely" into "verified."
- Account / Client Name
- Primary Domain
If either is missing, ask for both before doing anything else. If both are already supplied, still ask explicit permission to begin this research stage — do not search until permission is given, unless the user has already authorized the entire multistage investigation up front.
Prompt to use when inputs are missing:
"Please provide: 1) Account/Client Name, 2) Primary Domain."
Prompt to use once inputs are present (skip only if the full investigation was pre-authorized):
"I have [Client Name] / [primary domain]. May I begin company, acquisition, subsidiary, and brand research?"
If the user supplies a research cutoff date, use it in place of "today" throughout. Otherwise use today's date.
Progress:
- Step 1: Get inputs and permission
- Step 2: Verify target company identity
- Step 3: First discovery pass (acquisitions, subsidiaries, brands)
- Step 4: Verify current ownership of every candidate
- Step 5: Second discovery pass (mandatory, alternate terms/sources)
- Step 6: Update the entity register
- Step 7: Report findings and ask permission to proceed
Step 1 — Inputs and Permission
Collect client name and primary domain. Get explicit permission for this stage before any searching begins.
Step 2 — Verify Target Identity
Establish, using the company's own site and filings first:
- Exact legal/company name
- Primary domain
- Parent company, if any
- Current ownership structure and boundary (what is "inside" this target vs. its parent/siblings)
- Whether the target itself was acquired by another company
- Former company names
- Common abbreviations and DBA/trading names
- Headquarters
Critical distinction: keep separate the direction of ownership.
- "Acquired BY [Target]" → candidate for the register.
- "[Target] was acquired BY [Other Company]" → this is the target's parent/acquirer, not an asset of the target. Note it for context only.
This step prevents confusing the target with similarly named companies or with assets that belong only to its parent.
Step 3 — First Discovery Pass
Search for completed acquisitions, direct and indirect subsidiaries, absorbed businesses, and owned or acquired brands. Use:
- Company site: investor relations, "our brands," corporate history, press releases
- Filings/annual reports (e.g., SEC filings, Exhibit 21 subsidiary lists)
- Deal databases (PitchBook, Crunchbase, Dealroom, Tracxn)
- Reputable reporting (Reuters, Bloomberg, Business Wire, PR Newswire, GlobeNewswire, trade press)
Query patterns (substitute exact legal name, common name, and former names):
"[Company]" acquisition | acquired | acquires | merger
"[Company]" subsidiaries | portfolio companies | brands | investments
site:crunchbase.com "[Company]"
site:pitchbook.com "[Company]"
site:sec.gov "[Company]" subsidiaries
site:reuters.com "[Company]" acquisition
site:businesswire.com OR site:prnewswire.com "[Company]" acquired
Search every discovered entity again separately, under its own name and any aliases, to surface its own sub-acquisitions or later status changes.
Step 4 — Verify Ownership of Every Candidate
For each candidate, confirm:
- The transaction completed (not just announced/proposed)
- The target still owns/controls it as of the cutoff date
- No later sale, divestiture, spin-off, closure, rename, or absorption changed that
Search:
"[Candidate]" sold | divested | sale | acquired by | closed | spun off
"[Candidate]" parent company | subsidiary | ownership
"[Target]" "[Candidate]"
Classify each candidate accurately — do not default to "active subsidiary":
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active subsidiary | Operates under target, ownership current |
| Absorbed | Acquired, no longer operates independently, but assets/business retained by target |
| Renamed | Same entity, operates under a new name within target |
| Sold / Divested / Spun off | No longer owned — exclude from verified table |
| Closed | Discontinued — exclude, or note only if explicitly relevant |
| Unclear | Insufficient evidence — exclude from verified table |
An absorbed business is still reported, but described accurately (e.g., "Company X – absorbed into [Target]'s [division]"), never presented as an independently operating subsidiary.
Step 5 — Mandatory Second Discovery Pass
Always run this, even if Step 3 found nothing. Use different names, terms, and sources than the first pass:
- Former names, abbreviations, trading names of the target
- Names/aliases of already-verified entities, to find their own acquisitions
- Additional source types not yet used (e.g., trade publications, non-English sources, regional filings, trademark databases)
Verify every new candidate to the same standard as Step 4. Do not skip verification just because it emerged from the second pass.
Step 6 — Update the Entity Register
Maintain a running register (internal working record) with:
- Verified legal name(s), former names
- Relationship to target (subsidiary / absorbed acquisition / owned brand / parent / not owned)
- Acquisition date (if applicable)
- Current status and cutoff-date-relevant notes
- Source URL(s)
This register is a living document. If a later skill (domain, app, GitHub, DAM research) turns up a possible new company or brand connection, apply this skill's verification rules to that lead before treating it as owned. Verified additions update the register and become inputs to further research. An apparent connection (shared name, shared branding, search-result association) alone never establishes ownership.
Step 7 — Report and Stop
Output the verified table (format below), a one-line note on the second pass, then ask permission to proceed to the next stage. Do not begin domain, app, GitHub, or DAM research here.
Include only when evidence supports:
- Completed transaction (not merely announced/rumored/pending)
- Target retains ownership/control as of cutoff date
- No subsequent sale, divestiture, spin-off, or loss of control
- Entity is part of the target's corporate structure or has been absorbed into its operations
Always exclude:
- Partners, customers, suppliers, distributors, franchisees, licensees
- Co-branded products, joint marketing/sponsorships
- Minority investments without control
- Sister companies owned only by the parent (not by the target directly)
- Companies that acquired the target (these are the target's owner, not its asset)
- Similarly named but unverified entities
- Assets later sold, divested, or spun off
- Parent-company brands not owned by the target itself
- Primary: company site (IR, corporate history, brands page), annual reports, regulatory filings, press releases, official trademark/brand-portfolio pages
- Deal databases: PitchBook, Crunchbase, Dealroom, Tracxn
- Reputable reporting: Reuters, Bloomberg, Business Wire, PR Newswire, GlobeNewswire, trade journals
- Discovery-only (never sole proof): Wikipedia, general web search, directories, LinkedIn, blogs — useful for finding leads, not for confirming ownership
When sources conflict: prefer primary/regulatory over marketing pages; prefer completed-deal confirmation over initial announcement; check dates for subsequent status changes; never upgrade "likely" to "verified" to resolve a conflict.
- Verified — strong primary evidence or multiple credible corroborating sources. Goes in the final table.
- Probable — substantial evidence but one material point unresolved (e.g., completion date unconfirmed). Keep out of the verified table; mention only if the user explicitly asks for probable candidates.
- Unverified — insufficient evidence. Exclude entirely.
Short table only. No narrative before or after except the one required note and the closing permission question.
| Asset | Relationship | Status | Acquisition Year | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example Co. | Acquired company | Absorbed into [Division] | 2019 | [PitchBook], [Company] |
| Example Brand | Owned brand | Active | — | [Company] |
If nothing verified:
| Result | Source |
|---|---|
| None verified | — |
Follow the table with exactly one short note, e.g.:
"Second pass checked [alternate names/sources used]; added [X] / found no additions."
Then close every response with:
"May I proceed to web-domain research for these verified companies and brands?"
(Skip this closing question only if the user has already authorized the full multistage investigation — in that case, state that you are proceeding to the next stage instead.)
Example 1 Input: Client: Microsoft Corporation; domain: microsoft.com; permission granted. Process: Confirm legal identity and structure. First pass finds GitHub (2018) — verify completed acquisition and current ownership. Second pass, using alternate sources/names, surfaces LinkedIn (2016) — verify independently. Output:
| Asset | Relationship | Status | Acquisition Year | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub | Acquired company | Active subsidiary | 2018 | [Company], [Reuters] |
| Acquired company | Active subsidiary | 2016 | [PitchBook], [Company] |
Note: "Second pass used alternate acquisition-history sources; added LinkedIn." Then: "May I proceed to web-domain research for these verified companies and brands?"
Example 2 Input: A small target with a clean, un-acquisitive history. Process: Both passes return no completed acquisitions or distinct owned brands beyond the core company. Output:
| Result | Source |
|---|---|
| None verified | — |
Note: "Second pass re-ran under former name and trade-press sources; found no additions."
- Search each discovered entity under its own name/aliases, not just under the target's name.
- Treat "announced" and "completed" as different states — confirm completion before including.
- Re-check every verified asset's status as of the cutoff date, not just at acquisition time.
- Keep source citations short (1–2 per row): [Company], [PitchBook], [Crunchbase], [Reuters], [SEC], [Filing].
- Apply this skill's verification rules retroactively whenever a later research stage surfaces a new candidate company/brand.
- Do not label every acquisition an "active subsidiary" — check for absorption, renaming, or sale.