Tonight's news related the discovery of susjpected explosives onboard some cargo jets. The announcer said the government bbelieved they were planted by "an Al Quaida franchise group in Yemen." I wasn't aware terrorism was so profitable. Will they now be listed on Wall Street?

I checked the definitions, and it doesn't make sense to me. I've never heard it used that way. Strange.

I wonder how often a word changes meanings because of a journalist's misuse.

One person's metaphor is another's misuse. I do agree, though, that the attempted metaphor doesn't work.

After thinking further about it, I believe he may have meant to use some form of "affiliated".

You are probably correct, Proof.

Being the preccriptivist prig that I am, it doesnt work for me because "an Al Quaida" contains redundant articles. Querect me if I'm rong.