cross-subsidy

plural cross-subsidies

1. A subsidy from profit-making operations of a business to support loss-making operations of the same business.

   1 more example

   The grouping into the Big Four (the Great Western Railway, the London Midland & Scottish Railway, the London & North Eastern Railway, and Southern Railway) came into effect in 1923, and created the largest businesses in Britain. It effectively formalised the concept of cross-subsidy, whereby each of the four would subsidise loss-making routes from those that were profitable, without financial support from the government.

   2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 36