I. Introduction

People seeking legal information often have business needs. Lawyers are frequently called upon to locate non-legal related business information to supplement their traditional legal research. The most common type of business research is finding company information, including locating financial assets, evaluating specific products, and locating investment information. As a student of the Georgetown Law Center you have access to various research databases that can help you with these and other types of business research inquiries.

This guide will not address specific research resources for broad business disciplines such as accounting, marketing or management. Instead, this guide will show you how to locate general business and company information using Lexis, Westlaw and various other databases available through the Edward Bennett Williams Library and Georgetown's Lauinger Library.

The databases linked on this page are available to current Georgetown Law Library students and faculty.

II. Getting Started

Before starting your research the most important thing to consider is the type of information needed. Are you looking for current financial information for a specific company or historical sales figures? Do you need market research about an entire industry or an evaluation of a particular product? These different concerns will require different sets of information tools. Therefore, you should be clear about the type of information you want. There are a number of guides and books that give both overviews and detailed explanations about different types of business information and how to conduct business research.

Business Research Handbook: Methods and Sources for Lawyers and Business Professionals, by Kathy Shimpock-Vieweg, 2004 HF54.52.U5 S54
Business research loose-leaf covering business research strategies, tools, and resources. (Last updated in 2004) Covers resources found in libraries, government agencies, corporations, and other organizations. Subject areas covered include accounting, economics, finance, government, insurance, management, and marketing.

Researching Company Financial Information: How to Find Financial Information About Companies, Washington Researchers, 2002 HG 4061 .H69
Guide detailing how to locate financial information on any public or private company. Also shows how to read financial statements and interpret financial data.

Researching Divisions, Subsidiaries, and Products: How to Find Information About Divisions, Subsidiaries, and Products, Washington Researchers, 2002 HD38.7 .H69 Guide detailing how to locate specific information about a firm's divisions, subsidiaries, or products. Provides detailed case studies and real-world examples.

Researching Private Companies: How to Find Information About Private Companies, Washington Researchers, 2002 HD2771 .H695
Guide detailing how to locate private company information. List federal, state and private sources including specific publications, databases, associations, industry experts, and government records.

International Business Information: How to Find it, How to Use it, by Ruth A. Pagell, 1999 HF54.5 .P33 1999
Although somewhat dated, this reference book describes key international publications and databases needed to locate international business information. Subject areas covered include marketing, industry research, economics, and international transactions.

III. Determining Company Status: Public v. Private

Determining the status of a company is the most important part of conducting company research. Public and private companies differ considerably in the availability of information about their operations, therefore you should have a basic understanding of their differences.

a. Publicly Traded Companies

Publicly traded companies sell stock to the general public on one of the major stock exchanges. Anyone who purchases stock in a company owns part of that company. As a result, the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) requires public companies to disclose financial and other information to their owners, so that investors can determine for themselves if their company's securities are a good investment. This makes researching public companies much easier than private companies.

b. Private/Closely Held Companies

Privately or closely held businesses, are those for which there is no public ownership of its shares or assets. Although closely held businesses tend to be small, family owned or jointly owned by a small group of people, they can also be large or wholly owned subsidiaries of major publicly traded companies. It should be kept in mind that the majority of businesses in the United States are private. Because privately held companies do not sell shares to the public, they are not required by law to report financial information to the SEC. As a result, it is more difficult to locate detailed information about a private company's operations.

c. Subsidiaries

A subsidiary is a distinctly separate firm controlled by a parent company. A subsidiary is referred to as "wholly owned" when 100% of its stock is owned by its parent company. Large publicly held multi-national companies often own dozens of smaller privately owned subsidiaries for which financial information is filed under the name of the parent company. As a result, having knowledge of whether a private firm is a subsidiary of a public corporation is extremely important when looking for company information.

For example:
Travelscape, Inc., a leading merchant of hotel rooms, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Expedia, Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of InterActiveCorp, a publicly owned media conglomerate that owns Home Shopping Network, USA Networks and Ticketmaster.

IV. Company Identification / Profiles

Most company research initially begins by verifying basic information such as the company name, contact information, products and services sold, and the number of employees. Company profiles provide more detailed information such as company history, sales figures, major competitors, and top executive officers. The following list of directory resources may be helpful when looking for basic company information, in-depth profiles, or a combination of both.

a. Print

Almanac of American Employers HF 5549.5 .C67A5
This guide offers general information for job seekers, but also individual profiles for the largest U.S. employers, based on selected types of business and industry sectors. Growth plans and special features are provided by the publisher, Plunkett Research.

D&B Directory of Service Companies HD9981.3 .D86 v. 2002
Provides information on more than 50,000 service businesses. Listings contain address and phone numbers, trade names, annual sales volume, employment numbers, company executives and directors, members of boards of directors, SIC codes, ownership dates, banking and accounting relationships, and incorporation information.

Directory of Foreign Firms Operating in the United States  HG4057 .A21943
Lists over 2,000 foreign firms in 69 countries, and over 4,000 U.S. businesses owned wholly or in part by those firms.

 

b. Electronic Resources

America's Corporate Finance Directory on LEXIS
(News & Business > Company & Financial > Company Profiles & Directories > Individual Publications > America's Corporate Finance)
Provides profiles of over 4,500 public and private U.S. companies with revenue income or pension assets in excess of $100,000,000 per year. Also includes information about large subsidiaries of foreign corporations located in the United States.

Bloomberg Law - The Company/Market Info tab allows you to search a company name or ticker symbol for news and litigation highlights by company. The company search also retrieves stock performance, financials, management profiles, holdings, corporate actions and subsidiaries. In the Williams Reading Room is a standalone Bloomberg Terminal which links to the entire Bloomberg database of news and information for thousands of publicly traded and privately held entities.

Hoover's Company and Industry Reports on LEXIS
(News & Business > Company & Financial > Company Profiles & Directories > Individual Publications > Hoover's)
Provides profiles and basic information about major US and international public and private companies including contact information, names of top executives, sales figures, and a brief overview of operations.

Mergent Onlne
Full text information on over 10,000 U.S. public companies and over 15,000 non-U.S. companies. Includes company history, officers, subsidiaries, financial data, and annual reports. Access to SEC filings (EDGAR) back to 1993. Also includes Company Archives, with information on over 4,000 public companies that were acquired, went bankrupt or merged out of existence from 1995 onward. Includes US and International Industry Reports.

Socrates
This database monitors the largest 3000 U.S. corporations and ranks them based on environmental, social and "controversial business" criteria. Indepth profiles are provided. Everything from charitable giving, to recycling to investment controversies are monitored.

Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage
Contains company profiles and in-depth strategic and financial information on publicly held U.S. corporations. Includes company records for parent companies plus subsidiaries, divisions, and affiliates. Profiles, also includes contact information, financial and marketing information, and a listing of officers and directors. Great source for researching competitive intelligence.

UniWorld Online
This directory of multinational firms identifies headquarters, subsidiaries and branch locations throughout the world. You can search for American firms operating in foreign countries or Foreign Firms operating in the United States.

c. Internet Resources

Hoovers Online
Hoover's database provides descriptions of companies including contact information and some employee and company financial information, as well as major competitors. Links to SEC filings and stock quotes are provided, as well as links to major online news sources.

Thomas Register of American Manufacturers
Free online database of basic contact information for over 150,000 U.S. and Canadian manufacturers. 

FORBES Company Lists
Forbes provides information on the Largest Private Companies, 200 Best Small Companies, 400 Best Big Companies and the World's 2000 Largest Companies. Viewers can sort this data by market value, industry, sales, and more.

YahooFinance
A company profile, key statistics and business summary are highlights of this resource for publicly traded companies.

V. Corporate Affiliations

Having knowledge of whether a company is owned by a larger organization, or whether an executive is associated with more than one corporation is important for determining conflicts of interests. The following resources are useful for identifying "who owns whom" and cross-corporation linkages of top executives.

a. Electronic Resources

Directory of Corporate Affiliations on LEXIS
(News & Business > Company Research > Directory of Corporate Affiliations)
Contains corporate relationships for both public and private companies (including more than 15,000 parent companies worldwide). Lexis also provides a Directory of Corporate Affiliations - International.

Executive Affiliation Records 
(WESTLAW; EA-ALL)
Contains information on individuals and executives worldwide associated with more than one corporation. Information includes data such as: company, address, country, executive names, titles and position held.

Lexis/Nexis Company Dossier
Extensive listing of parents and subsidiaries of thousands of global companies.

VI. Defunct Companies

When companies go out of business it is often difficult to locate information about their past operations, however, there are several useful resources that provide basic information for defunct companies.

a. Electronic Resources

Info USA's Inactive Business Database on LEXIS
(News & Business > Company & Financial > Company Profiles & Directories > Individual Publications > Inactive Business Database)
Provides information for over 1.2 million companies that have gone out of business. Includes former business contact and owner information, address and primary function of the business, SIC code numbers, sales figures, number of employees and city/county population figures from where defunct company resided.

VII. Company Financials

All public companies operating in the United States (including foreign firms) are required by law to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other financial forms electronically with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The following resources provide access to company financial data for domestic public companies and international companies operating in the United States.

a. Electronic Resources

Bloomberg Law - The Company/Market Info tab allows you to search a company name or ticker symbol for news and litigation highlights by company. The company search also retrieves stock performance, financials, management profiles, holdings, corporate actions and subsidiaries. In the Williams Reading Room is a standalone Bloomberg Terminal which links to the entire Bloomberg database of news and information for thousands of publicly traded and privately held entities.

Disclosure on LEXIS
(News & Business > Company & Financial > Company Profiles & Directories > Individual Publications > Disclosure)
Business and financial information on approximately 12,000 public companies excerpted from reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) including 10-Ks, 20-Fs, 10-Qs, 8-Ks, proxy statements, registration statements, and annual reports. Business information includes the full text of the management discussion, the president's letter to shareholders, footnotes to financials, officers, directors, and subsidiaries.

Factiva
This Dow Jones news service site offers indepth company information with links to a business description, key financials, as well as links to up-to-the-minute news from Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal.

LexisNexis
Provides access to company financial information including the full-text of SEC public filings, the EDGARPlus(R) Database, U.S. Public Company Reports, and U.S. Private Company Reports. To access files select: News & Business > Company & Financial.

Lexis/Nexis Company Dossier
Extensive financial information for over a million global enterprises, with links to real-time quotes and news. Financial statements can be downloaded.

LiveEdgar (Westlaw Business)
Searchable databse of all SEC Filings, SEC No-Action letters and SEC staff reviews. Also provides access to Analyst Reports, and information on mergers and acquisitions.

Mergent Onlne
Full text information on over 10,000 U.S. public companies and over 15,000 non-U.S. companies. Includes company history, officers, subsidiaries, financial data, and annual reports. Access to SEC filings (EDGAR) back to 1993. Also includes Company Archives, with information on over 4,000 public companies that were acquired, went bankrupt or merged out of existence from 1995 onward. Includes US and International Industry Reports.

b. Internet Resources

SEC Filings and Forms (Edgar)
The official source of public company financial data and information. All public companies operating in the United States (including foreign firms) are required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through EDGAR. The information is available free for download.

LLRX Guide to Financial Sources on the Internet
This guide to financial sources on the Internet is a wide ranging list of fee and free data, services, news, and current awareness information produced and distributed by commercial, corporate, government, NGO, news media, and other professional entities and organizations.

VIII. Investment Research

Reading investment analyst reports are good ways of gaining background and financial information about a company. The following resources provide investment information and research reports for both U.S. and international public companies.

a. Electronic Resources

Value Line Research Center
The Value Line Research Center provides online analyses of stocks, mutual funds, options, convertible securities and special situation stocks. Current and historical print issues of Value Line Investment Survey publications are available in the reference area of the Reading Room at HG4501 .V26. GULC campus access only through Lauinger, our undergraduate library.

Wall Street Transcript
Provides corporate speeches, round table discussions and interviews with CEOs, Wall Street professionals, corporate leaders and major analysts from Wall Street. GULC campus access only

b. Internet Resources

The Internet offers a variety of investment web sites that offer free company financial information, stock quotes, and investment analysis. Listed below are some of the best-known and most highly regarded web sites in the financial services and investments industry.

• Motley Fool.com
• TheStreet
• Yahoo Finance
• Zack's Investment
  

IX. Annual Reports

Annual reports are documents published by public companies discussing their products and financial position for the previous year. Annual reports typically include the following:

• A letter from the "Chairman of the Board" to the shareholders
• Financial statements including sales, stock, and marketing data
• Information about products and subsidiaries
• A list of directors and officers of the company

For private companies that are subsidiaries of public companies, annual reports are often the only way to locate information about their operations. One of the easier ways to locate a particular company's annual report is to go to Google and type (using quotations) : "Name of company" and "annual report". The following resources index the full text of annual reports:

Public Register Online
Free annual report web site providing online access to a directory of over 4,500 annual reports and 10-K filings. Additional companies are added daily.

X. Current News & Articles

a. Electronic Resources

Georgetown subscribes to various electronic databases that provide full text access to thousands of newspapers, trade and academic journals that index business related materials.

ABI/Inform
Provides citations, abstract, and full-text articles from 1300 business and management publications, with varying coverage. Includes 350 titles from outside the U.S. Contains complete articles for more than 600 of the more important sources including the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. To search for articles on a particular company, select Advanced Search, then Company from the drop down menu.

Academic Search Premier
Provides the full text of over 3,000 publications covering various academic areas including business, economics, and marketing.

Factiva
Factiva, formerly Dow Jones Interactive®, provides access to thousands of domestic and international full text news sources including Dow Jones, Reuter's newswires and the Wall Street Journal. Factiva gathers business information about companies, business topics, industries, countries, and market data. Resources available in 22 languages from over 118 countries.

LexisNexis
The News & Business section of Lexis offers full text coverage of more than 7000 sources of news and business information including Business Week, Fortune, The Economist, and Forbes. Options for searching by individual publication, industry and topic, language, or country region.

b. Internet Resources

The web offers a variety of comprehensive financial news sites that provide important up-to-date business information about companies and industries and as well as links to both domestic and international business news and financial market research, government agencies, statistical resources, and other business related information.

• CEOExpress
• CNBC Money
• CNN Financial News
• Financial Times

Additional resources can be found by accessing the Lauinger Libraries Companies Collection available for all Georgetown faculty, staff & students.