This is an ongoing list of companies whose connection surprise me. Often, it is a subsidiary of a large corporation that I thought was a private company.
AbeBooks is a subsidiary of Amazon. Founded in 1995, this online marketplace for book stores was sold to Amazon in 2008. AbeBooks is listed with many of Amazon’s other subs at the bottom of their main page. AbeBooks, however, does not mention Amazon on its front page. Amazon gets its due on AbeBooks’ Privacy Policy page.
One of the regular booksellers that comes up when searching for a book on Abebooks is The Book Depository, which bills itself as “the UK’s largest dedicated online bookseller.” The Book Depository is also owned by Amazon and like AbeBooks is listed on Amazon’s main page. When looking at a book on AbeBooks that is offered by The Book Depository, I wasn’t readily able to figure out that the two were related much less that both were owned by Amazon.
While The Book Depository website does mention Amazon on its About Us and Privacy Policy pages, neither Amazon nor AbeBooks rates mention on its main page.
goodreads, a booklovers’ website, was bought by Amazon.com in 2013. Neither mentions the other on their main pages. goodreads doesn’t mention Amazon on its Privacy Policy page, but their new owner does merit reference on the company blog.
Kashi cereals and snack bars and Bear Naked granola are Kellogg brands. Founded in 1983, Kashi was bought by Kellogg in 2000. Bear Naked began in 2002 and was sold to Kashi in 2007. Thus, Bear Naked is a sub of Kashi, which is a sub of Kellogg. See Kellogg 2011 10K p 4 brand list and p 76 for subsidiary list. See Kellogg 2007 10K note 2, p 38 for information on Kashi’s purchase of Bear Naked.
The Privacy Policies of both Kashi and Bear Naked acknowledge their Kellogg’s connection. Otherwise, their websites are sparing in their reference to their owner. The pages where they detail their histories focus on other things. Kellogg’s website also has little space for Kashi or Bear Naked.
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I revised this post in mid February, 2014. My assertions are based on the version of various websites on view at that time unless otherwise noted.
The Risk Is Ours. 