who owns what?

A correspondent asks a question:

"Do you know of any resource out there that ties various brands and their corporate owners together, and is updated in something like reasonable time? I'm thinking about all the different labels that P&G own, or the members of the RIAA, or joint ventures like MSNBC. Does this exist?"

Anyone have any ideas on this? I don't.

Comments

[Tom]

I recall seeing something like this, about a year ago, but cannot find the link. In searching for the link, however, I came across the following.

Lexis-Nexis has a for-pay database that may be suitable: http://www.lexisnexis.com/dca/

There was a project at UC Berkeley that automatically parsed SEC filings and provided a visualization tool for corporate ownership. The project may not have been updated in a while, but the authors may be of help: http://denali.berkeley.edu/eva/?page=home

A discussion on google groups points to several potential sources, similar to the UC Berkeley project: http://groups.google.com/group/get-theinfo/browse_thread/thread/3903b34efeca245f

FAIR publishes a list of "interlocks" between the boards of directors of various major media companies and other corporations, though I'm not sure how frequently this gets updated: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2870

[collyn]

the Royal Mail media centre off High Holborn in London has several databases which contain all this info - and it's free to use. You just have to register and take a free induction course. Mintel/LexisNexis/Verdict/DataMonitor, etc.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump2?catId=20900328&mediaId=21000354

[Marty]

The best example I can think of is They Rule:

http://www.theyrule.net

[Paul Mison]

I ran across this visualisation of the top 10 UK brands and what they own the other day. Might be useful.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualthinkmap/2501725135/

[Chris Solomi]

The ALF Directory of agencies and advertisers published monthly is useful.
The advertiser section lists the holding company as well as well as it's sub-brands so you can search for P&G and see all the lovley products they make.