What each ownership link means

Who owns, runs, or invests in the business?

Majority owned by / Subsidiary of

The sources identify a controlling owner. The exact percentage can still be private.

Operated by / Portfolio company of

The business belongs to an operating group or has investment from the named firm. This link alone doesn’t confirm a majority stake.

Minority investment from

The investor owns a stake without confirmed control of the business.

Franchise of

The local business uses a franchise system. The system’s owner can be different from the local business owner.

Business name used by (DBA)

A registered company does business under this name. The brand and legal company have their own entries.

Announced, unconfirmed, or past connection

The deal is pending, the current link needs more support, or the relationship has ended. These links stay outside the list of confirmed controlling owners.

How sure are we?

Sources confirm the link

Public documents support this connection as of the dates shown. They may leave private shareholders and exact percentages unnamed.

Company-reported

The business describes its own ownership. An independent source has yet to confirm control.

Some owner details unknown

A link in the chain is missing, disputed, or awaiting confirmation. We can identify an operating group while still leaving its ultimate owner unknown.

Source quality: A, B, or C

The letter describes the source, not the chance that a claim is true. Filings and statements from a buyer or seller carry more weight than reporting or a lead that still needs checking.

Copies of the same press release share one publisher group. Five copies give us one announcement.

Similar names can mean different businesses

Each business, owner, operating group, and franchise system has its own ID. Names and aliases help find possible matches, but a name match alone never merges two businesses.

A search can find one business, several candidates, or none. We check legal names and sources before connecting them. The data checks also catch duplicate IDs, missing sources, broken links, and ownership loops.

Franchise, minority investment, operating, and portfolio links stay outside the list of confirmed controlling owners.

Dates stay with the claim

The first Austin snapshot is dated July 26, 2026. The current data release is October 26, 2026. Each source and connection keeps its own checked date. Deal announcements and closings have their own dates; a month-only closing stays a month rather than becoming an invented day.

Corrections keep the previous value, the new value, the reason, and supporting sources in the change history download. Checking whether a source link still works leaves its ownership-check date unchanged.

A business is due for another check after 90 days, measured from the oldest checked link in its ownership chain. Ownership can change sooner.

Which pages appear in search

A company page appears in our sitemap when the business is active, its ownership connection has public support, and at least two sources include a primary ownership source. Pages based only on company statements or with missing owner details remain available by direct link and carry a noindex tag.

An owner or business-group page needs at least two connected active businesses and two public sources, including a primary source, to appear in the sitemap. The directory covers the businesses researched here; it isn’t a list of every holding an owner has.

Suggest a correction

Name the business or connection, link a public source, and explain what changed and when. A company’s request needs the same source support as any other correction.

Send your draft through Sulayman’s public contact profile . This website leaves form entries in your browser.