Global Reports acquired by Morningstar
Jinfo Blog

20th April 2009

By Nancy Davis Kho

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Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a provider of independent investment research, announced on April 20th that it has acquired the global financial filings database business of Global Reports LLC, a leading provider of online financial and Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) reports for publicly traded companies around the world. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition follows Morningstar's 2008 purchase of US SEC filings provider 10-K Wizard, and positions Morningstar to offer an integrated, deep, and broad archive of both US and international filings. According to the press release at http://digbig.com/4yqam , "Morningstar plans to fully integrate Global Reports’ financial filings database into popular products such as the company’s investment Web site, Morningstar.com®; Morningstar® Advisor WorkstationSM, a Web-based investment planning system for advisors; Morningstar DirectSM, a Web-based research platform for institutions; and 10-K Wizard, a leading provider of SEC EDGAR filing research and alert services, which Morningstar acquired in December 2008." Morningstar has been on a quiet but determined shopping spree in the past few years, acquiring Ibbotson Associates, a privately held firm that specialized in asset allocation services in 2006, and S&P's fund data business in 2007. In 2008 their acquisition strategy really took off, with the 10-K Wizard deal as well as purchase of Hemscott's data, media, and investor relations Web site businesses from Ipreo Holdings LLC and UK-based Fundamental Data Limited, a leading provider of closed-end fund data. Morningstar appears to be methodically putting in place all the key pieces of content it needs to compete with some of the bigger players on the block, and Global Reports brings it international breadth and depth to help in that play.

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