Apple has a funny way of naming its holding companies

Apple names some of its most opaque holding companies after kinds of apples.

Apple is a vast company, with hundreds of subsidiaries, and operations in most countries. But the companies named after types of apples stand out. 

Apple's made apple puns before. It named its line of computers after the Macintosh apple. But since then, the company hasn't named many products after apple varietals. 

Instead, it names holding companies after the fruit - not for obvious types like Red Delicious or Granny Smith, but usually a more obscure type of apple.

Apple has used some of these subsidiaries to reduce its tax bill, the New York Times reported in 2012, and Congress investigated in 2013, using a system called the Double Irish arrangement, which was eliminated in 2015. 

Apple potentially faces what analysts have estimated to be as much as an $19 billion bill (or as little as $100 million) from European Union regulators over its Irish operations, although reportedly the EU investigation does not have anything to do with the Double Irish arrangement. That decision is expected to be handed down this fall. 

Apple continues to employ holding companies named after apple types. Here are the ones we know about: