Several businesses make up a controlled group. We will be dividing them into QSLOBs. Not all of the businesses have 50 employees, so we plan to combine the smaller businesses with one of the larger ones. When we're done, we expect to have 2 or maybe 3 QSLOBs.

I want to make sure that such a combination is permissible.

We also have a client with ownership in 3 non-related businesses, 2 of which are a controlled group. Since one of the 2 businesses consists of the client only (no employees), I don't see how we can use the QSLOB rules in this case. Am I correct?