Business models
Licensing & royalties
Earning money by letting others use a brand, patent or recording in exchange for a fee per use or sale.
A company can make money from what it owns without producing anything itself: a fashion house licenses its name for perfume, a technology firm licenses its patents, a record label licenses its catalogue to streaming services.
Licensing revenue often has very high margins, because the main cost was creating the brand, technology or music in the first place.
General explanation for education only, not investment advice. Company-specific definitions can differ; each breakdown uses the company’s own.