Well, it's a bit like renting an apartment vs paying down a mortgage, right? On the books they (IBM) will almost certainly still be paying the subsidiary (RH),

Well, it's a bit like renting an apartment vs paying down a mortgage, right? On the books they (IBM) will almost certainly still be paying the subsidiary (RH), and the subsidiary will still record and report the revenue. But IBM is now building equity with its payments up at the consolidated reporting level rather than shoveling the cash out the window.