What are the differences between affiliate, associate and subsidiary companies?

All three of these terms refer to the degree of ownership that a parent company holds in another company. In most cases, the terms affiliate and associate are used synonymously to describe a company whose parent only possesses a minority stake in the ownership of the company

A subsidiary,is a company whose parent is a majority shareholder. Consequently, in a wholly owned subsidiary the parent company owns 100% of the subsidiary.

 For example, the Walt Disney Corporation owns about a 40% stake in the History Channel, an 80% stake in ESPN and a 100% interest in the Disney Channel. In this case, the History Channel is an affiliate company, ESPN is a subsidiary and the Disney Channel is a wholly owned subsidiary company.