As the old saying goes, “knowledge is power.” Company information and business research are essential commodities for businesses to remain one step ahead of their competition. However, not only can business knowledge be as important to acquire as the “Holy Grail,” it can also be just as difficult to find (especially for private companies). So, there’s no better location to begin your search for company information than the one place where you can find nearly everything in the world – the internet.
Where to Begin
First, determine what kind of company you are researching. Are you looking for business information for a publicly held company, privately owned company, or a subsidiary of a publicly held organization? If your answer is a publically held company, then you’re in luck! If a company is publicly held, it is traded on a stock exchange and is required to report specific financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission and to their shareholders. As a result, company information for public companies is much more readily available for internet searchers. If you are unsure whether the company you would like more information on is public or private, use the Yahoo Ticker Symbol Lookup to find out. If the company has a ticker symbol, it is listed on the stock exchange and is a public company.
Corporate Websites
If you’re unfamiliar with the company you are researching, visiting their corporate website is a great place to start. Companies often use their official corporate website as a means to showcase company news articles, annual reports, business ventures, and information regarding their products and services. You can locate the company website on the internet by using Google to search for the company name. You can also try guessing the URL, since many businesses have the name of their company as their web address (ex: http://www.companyname.com).
Free Company Profiles
Most general company information can be found on the internet for free, if you know where to look. Companies such as Cortera, ZoomInfo, and Manta all offer free company profiles on millions of public and private businesses. Company information included in the free company profiles often consists of:
-A brief description of the company
-Location information
-Contact Information
-Key Company Facts
-Top Employees at the Company
-Company payment rating
Data Providers
If you’re looking for accurate, hard-to-find company information – such as a corporate tree, credit report or financial summary – it’s usually going to come with a small price. Data providers specialize in finding comprehensive business information that you can purchase from them individually or through a subscription. Within their proprietary databases, information is contained on public Fortune 500 companies all the way to small, privately owned companies. Data providers are a great resource to take advantage of because they generally have more accurate information and will save you time sifting through thousands of sites to compile the reports you need.
Here are a few reliable data providers to obtain the business information you are searching for, including sales, credit information, executives, ownership, and more:
- Cortera
- Dun & Bradstreet
- Goliath
- Cortera
- Dun & Bradstreet
- Goliath
News Sources
BizJournals, the online media division of the American City Business Journals, is a solid resource for local company information and business news. They regularly update local business news from around the U.S. (great for breaking news) and archive over 1.25 million business news articles since 1996. The site does require registration, but access to most information does not involve a fee. Another news source is NewspaperLinks.com where you can search general news on the company you’re interested in. For more industry information and news, check out Yahoo Industry News.
Additional Business Related Magazines, Newspapers, and News Resources:
- Barron's Magazine
- Forbes
- Fortune
- Financial Times
- Wall Street Journal
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