We have a new web-based application that is due to launch towards the end of the summer. It has its own domain name, of course, but is really not related to the core of the business or our current target market.
We'd like the name of the application to be the new brand in the company -- sort of the structure that Toyota has for Lexus.
What we can't do is make the new brand a wholly-owned subsidiary, since the new web app isn't a separate entity, but rather just a product in the existing company, but targeting a different market.
From what I understand, the new brand becomes a "division" in the existing company -- legally the same company, but structurally a separate segment of revenue.
But the payment pipelines are all set up under the corporate business name, not the new brand name. So how is this done from the payment perspective? I want the customers for the new product to deal only with the name of the new brand, not with the official corporate name which won't even appear on the new product.
Are we supposed to set up a DBA for the new brand and set up a separate merchant account for that DBA name? Is there more that needs to be done to set up a new brand/division legally? Or is this handled an entirely different way?
