Which type of company are you researching?
Public companies:
▪ stock is owned by the public and is traded on a stock exchange
▪ required to file financial statements and other reports with the SEC
This makes it easy to find information on public companies.
Private companies:
▪ stock not sold to the general public and does not trade on an exchange
▪ not required to share financial information or other company news
Thus it can be difficult to do research on private companies.
Another thing to consider: Is the company affiliated with another company through stock ownership?
Parent Company: Owns a significant amount of stock (often over 50%) of another company ("subsidiary").
Subsidiary: Company for which over 50% of the voting stock is controlled by another company ("parent company").
Since the stock of the subsidiary is not available for sale to the general public, that company does not have to file financial statements or other disclosures with the SEC, making it more challenging to research a subsidiary.
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Covers over 50,000 US and foreign public companies, current and historical (past 15 years) firm descriptions, statistics, financial information and ratios, annual reports, mergers, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, long-term debt, capital stock, and insider trading.
Market Atlas replaces Mergent Online, which will be retired in July 2025.
