Spin-off companies that outlasted their parent companies

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

What are some good examples of spin-off companies outlasting the companies that founded them? An example for me is CarMax outlasting its parent company Circuit City

[catch22]

This may not exactly qualify, but AT&T. One of the largest companies ever now exists only as a file cabinet full of legal documents somewhere in Texas.

Split up in 1984 as part of settling an antitrust lawsuit into several companies. Later on, one of the spun-off "Baby Bells," SBC, acquired its former parent (and some of the other spinoffs) and began using AT&T as its corporate name. (I'm familiar with this once since both my wife and I are AT&T retirees.)

[Max Rockatansky]

Sears Mexico

[freebrickproductions]

K-mart Australia will almost certainly outlast the North American K-mart.

[kurumi]

Decades ago, Mr. Donut had hundreds of locations in the US. But they were acquired by Dunkin Donuts, and now have just one branded location in the US, in Illinois.

However, now there are more than 10,000 Mr. Donut locations worldwide, mostly in Asia. (The mochi donuts are really good)

[formulanone]

Decades ago, Mr. Donut had hundreds of locations in the US. But they were acquired by Dunkin Donuts, and now have just one branded location in the US, in Illinois.

However, now there are more than 10,000 Mr. Donut locations worldwide, mostly in Asia. (The mochi donuts are really good)

I didn't know that was a chain until very recently; I figured the one we had in town (which disappeared around 1990) was just a one-off itself, because I'd never noticed any others.

[oscar]

Not quite the same, but the giant nonprofit Kaiser Permanente health system that Henry Kaiser helped found (originally to provide health care to workers at his dam construction projects and shipyards) certainly overshadows what's left of his industrial empire.

Kaiser Aluminum is a more conventional spinoff that outlasted most of Henry Kaiser's other for-profit enterprises.

[Takumi]

TJ Maxx was started by Zayre.

[bing101]

Shakey's Philippines outlasted and became bigger than Shakey's Pizza which originated in Sacramento.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Kenny Rogers Roasters is another one that no longer exists in North America but has a sizable presence in Asian markets.

[jdb1234]

TJ Maxx was started by Zayre.

So was Bj's Wholesale Club.

Other examples off the top of my head:
Discover Card will outlast Sears
Ruby Tuesday outlasted Morrison's Cafeteria

[Takumi]

TJ Maxx was started by Zayre.

So was Bj's Wholesale Club.

I knew there was a second Zayre spinoff business that was still around, but I could never remember what it was.

In the "companies that were started in the US but solely exist in other countries now" vein, Wimpy is a popular fast food chain in South Africa.

[-- US 175 --]

Accenture (a consulting company) was a spinoff from Arthur Andersen (one of the longtime accounting firms), prior to Arthur Andersen's spectacular downfall in the wake of the Enron mess.

[Molandfreak]

K-mart Australia will almost certainly outlast the North American K-mart.

And Kmart was originally a spin-off of Kresge's dime stores, so the spin-off of a spin-off is going the strongest 50 years after the original company died.

[Big John]

Foot Locker outlasted Woolworth's.

[Molandfreak]

An interesting one is Monster Energy, which was originally started by a small juice company, Hansen's Natural Juices. As the monster brand grew, the original Hansen's company rebranded to Monster, but the juices were still sold. Eventually the juice part of the brand was sold to coca-cola and they continued producing it for a while, but they stopped bottling it years ago.

[Amaury]

Outlasting in what context? As in, the parent company shutting down first, but the spinoff staying open for however long more? Or as in the spinoff lasting longer timewise compared to the parent company? For example, after five years of being open, the parent company creates a spinoff. After 10 years of being open, the parent company shuts down, but the spinoff continues running and eventually surpasses the parent company by being open for 20 years and is still open to date.

Reminds me of television series, where if there's a spinoff, the spinoff is usually canceled after one or two seasons, while the parent series, which has been running for years, continues to air new episodes. The Goldbergs and Schooled and The Rookie and The Rookie: Feds are two examples that come to mind. Schooled (2019–2020) was canceled after two seasons, while The Goldbergs (2013–2023), which had already been running for a long time, continued to air new seasons and episodes for another few years. The Rookie: Feds (2022–2023) was canceled after only one season, while The Rookie (2018–present) is still running.

[Route66Fan]

Software company HeR Interactive, mostly known for making the Nancy Drew mystery PC games, started out in 1995 as a division of American Laser Games, which was mostly known for making light gun arcade games like Mad Dog McCree & Who Shot Johnny Rock?

After finding some initial success, HeR Interactive was spun off into its own company &, by the late 90's, bought out it's former parent company, American Laser Games.

In 2000, Digital Leisure Inc. acquired the development & publishing rights to the games once developed & published by American Laser Games.

HeR Interactive still continues to make Nancy Drew mystery PC games to this day.

[bing101]

K-mart Australia will almost certainly outlast the North American K-mart.

https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/our-businesses/our-businesses
Yes because Kmart Australia is owned by an investment company called Wesfarmers and they also hold the rights to the Target name in Australia.
In an  unrelated case Pak N Save it used to be well known in the San Francisco area but the majority were renamed as Safeway. However the name Pak'N Save is better known in New Zealand yes it's a case of a store brand being tied to a bigger investment group. This is like Ralphs Supermarkets of Southern California is tied to Kroger type situation here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pak%27nSave

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foodstuffs_(company)

https://local.safeway.com/pak-n-save/ca.html

[KCRoadFan]

Isn't there a store called Lawson that started out selling milk in Ohio - but is now a convenience store chain in Japan?

[WillWeaverRVA]

Isn't there a store called Lawson that started out selling milk in Ohio - but is now a convenience store chain in Japan?

Yup. The Japanese incarnation of Lawson outlived the original American one, which was absorbed by various companies that eventually merged into Tyson Foods.

[lepidopteran]

Howard Johnson started out as a restaurant, and while that's not around anymore, the hotel chain is -- under the Wyndham banner.  There's also the Ground Round restaurant spin-off, though not as many as there once were.

Along similar lines, in 1983 Apple Computer introduced a new advanced desktop system called the Lisa.  But with a price around $10k, few people purchased it.  So about a year later, Apple decided to market a stripped-down version of the Lisa with the same revolutionary user-friendly interface, but at a much more affordable price.  Perhaps you have heard of the Macintosh?

[Takumi]

Isn't there a store called Lawson that started out selling milk in Ohio - but is now a convenience store chain in Japan?

Yup. The Japanese incarnation of Lawson outlived the original American one, which was absorbed by various companies that eventually merged into Tyson Foods.

I thought about mentioning Lawson in my previous reply, but when looking them up the Japanese version has opened a couple of stores in Hawaii so I wasn't quite sure if it counted.

[Dirt Roads]

Here's a different twist:  The Staten Island Railroad was spun off from the Chessie System and lives on as a subsidiary of the New York MTA, long outliving the Chessie brand.  Some might say that the Chessie lives on as the big "C" in CSX Transportation, but there are very few remaining symbols of the Chessie cat remaining outside of the railfan world.  (Chessie the Cat was a longtime symbol of the smooth travel promised on Chesapeake and Ohio passenger trains).  For the record, I am a Roadgeek and not a railfan.

[TheStranger]

Since Mr. Donut, Shakey's, Kenny Rogers, and Lawson were all mentioned here, here are other examples of American brands that have a significantly higher Philippine presence than in the US:

Boysen Paints (founded in Oakland in the 1930s but with zero footprint in America in decades)
Italianni's restaurant (one or two locations left in the US, about 45+ in the Philippines)
Magoo's Pizza (one revived location in Hawaii, vs. three bowling alley kiosks in metro Manila)


There's also a local brand there named Holly Farms that is..probably not connected to the former Tyson Foods brand/division that sponsored NASCAR races at North Wilkesboro.

---

To the main topic of thread:

Target basically subsumed its original parentage of Dayton's/Hudson's department stores, outlasting both brands
Didn't Filene's Basement outlive Filene's (though neither exists today)
Radio Shack/Tandy is an interesting case, as the Radio Shack brand eventually dissolved for a while and the Tandy Leather brand emerged again (there was a Tandy Leather store in San Bruno until a few years ago)