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A holding company is a company that owns part, all, or a majority of other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself, rather its only purpose is owning shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow the ownership and control of a number of different companies. Eighty percent or more of voting stock must be owned before tax consolidation benefits such as tax-free dividends can be claimed.

In the United States, Berkshire Hathaway is one of the largest publicly traded holding companies; it owns numerous insurance companies, manufacturing businesses, retailers, and other companies. Two other large holding companies of note are UAL Corporation and AMR Corporation, publicly traded holding companies whose primary purposes are to wholly own United Airlines and American Airlines, respectively.

Sometimes a company intended to be a pure holding company identifies itself as such by adding "Holdings" or "(Holdings)" to its name.

A parent company is a holding company that owns enough voting stock in another firm (subsidiary) to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors. A parent company could simply be a company that wholly owns another company.

In the United States of America, a personal holding company is defined in section 542 of the Internal Revenue Code. A corporation is a personal holding company if both of the following requirements are met:

• Personal Holding Company Income Test. At least 60% of the corporation's adjusted ordinary gross income for the tax year is from dividends, interest, rent, and royalties.
• Stock Ownership Requirement. At any time during the last half of the tax year, more than 50% in value of the corporation's outstanding stock is owned, directly or indirectly, by 5 or fewer individuals.

• Bank holding company
• Conglomerate (company)
• Investment company
• Patent holding company
• Shell corporation