Yeah it was in college that I learned that all those front facing businesses we knew were basically loss leaders for a larger financial empire. Like how McD's typically owned at least 1 if not all 4 street corners of real-estate where their heart-attack-shacks sit. So every gas station, Rooms2Go, and Burger King around them pays rent to them. Hell-Mart does the same thing.
Now most those companies have merged into a company of companies, like 'Yum! Brands' that holds a big chunk of the non-McD's fast food restaurants. Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft are all aiming to be credit companies / banks more than IT businesses.
Basically all the crap we pay too much for is the cheap crap loss leader shady cover business for real mega-billion dollar cash cow businesses. We're just the cattle in the system.