Execution: Business vs. Brand

[EPerceptions]

I'm looking for opinions on whether a product line is (or should be) a brand or a separate business entity.

I have a preference for IP assets. Royalty income from books and stock photos, domain name investing, software licensing, etc. Because of this, I consider my company to be a publishing and marketing company, and each branch or publication is simply a brand inside the company.

In the last year or so I've been testing physical products and building brands around the profitable ones (cashflow for more assets/IP). In a hobby/craft niche, my most popular product is imported and I've successfully created several others from a US supply source. After a brief lull, I've begun importing the primary product again and the supplier is eager to show me his other offerings. This type of product has stricter import regulations so I've previously put off large orders.

As a publishing company, I've never had the need to get a resale tax ID or deal with regulatory bodies and restrictions, so I feel like I'm at a crossroads. Do I register a general ecommerce company for my tangible product brands? Do I separate each brand into its own company? Am I right in thinking the tax paperwork will get messy if I just tack on an ecommerce branch to the existing company?

I know forums aren't the place for advice so I'm mainly looking for experienced opinions and 'here's what I did' if anyone has them.

Thanks in advance

P.S. Forum required me to pick a prefix and execution wasn't one of the options.

 

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[EPerceptions]

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