by the SEC as a technology transfer or licensing of technology to the new company) may also be called a spin-off in common usage. Other definitions A second definition of a spin-out is a firm formed when an employee or group of employees leaves an existing entity to form an independent start-up firm. The prior employer can be a firm, a university, or another organization. Spin-outs typically operate at arm's length from the previous organizations and have independent sources of financing, products, services, customers, and other assets. In some cases, the spin-out may license technology from the parent or supply the parent with products or services; conversely, they may become competitors. Such spin-outs are important sources of technological diffusion in high-tech industries. Terms such as hive-up, hive down or hive across are sometime used for transferring a business to a parent company, a subsidiary company or a fellow subsidiary. Reasons for spin-offs One of the main reasons for what The Economist has dubbed the 2011 "starburst revival" is that "companies seeking buyers for parts of their business are not getting good offers from other firms, or from private equity". For example, Foster's Group, an Australian beverage company, was prepared to sell its wine business. However, due to the lack of a decent offer, it decided to spin off the wine business, which is now called Treasury Wine Estates. Conglomerate discount According to The Economist, another driving force of the proliferation of spin-offs is what it calls the "conglomerate discount" — that "stockmarkets value a diversified group at less than the sum of its parts". Examples Some examples of spin-offs (according to the SEC definition): Guidant was spun off from Eli Lilly and Company in 1994, formed from Lilly's Medical Devices and Diagnostics Division. Agilent Technologies spun off from Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 1999, formed from HP's former test-and-measurement equipment division. Later in 2014, Keysight was spun off from Agilent Technologies. Expedia Group was spun off from Microsoft in 1999, with its eponymous subsidiary Expedia. DreamWorks Animation was spun off from DreamWorks Pictures in 2004. Covidien was spun off from Tyco International in 2007. TE Connectivity was spun off from Tyco International in 2007. Cenovus Energy was spun off from Encana (now Ovintiv) in 2009. AOL was a Time Warner spin-off in 2009; this effectively was a demerger, as AOL had previously merged into Time Warner. Ocean Rig was spun off from