Hedge Fund Research Company Morningstar Acquires Regulatory Specialist Team

Date: Thursday, February 11, 2010
Author: Alex Akesson, HedgeCo.net

Independent hedge fund research company, Morningstar, Inc.  has acquired the Footnoted business of Financial Fineprint Inc., a privately held firm based in Peekskill, N.Y.

Footnoted.org was founded in 2003 by Michelle Leder, author and journalist. Footnoted’s research staff pores over hundreds of SEC filings a day to unearth critical information buried in the fine print, such as evidence of aggressive accounting, excessive compensation, or the type of questionable self-dealing that can indicate more serious problems at a company.

“Morningstar is always looking for ways to provide investors with information to make investing as transparent as possible. There are few better examples of that principle in action than the work Footnoted does to demystify the often-complex details hidden deep in companies’ federal filings,” said Kunal Kapoor, president of individual investor software at Morningstar. “Its content is a natural fit with our investor-centric offerings at Morningstar.com and is a perfect companion to our tools, reports, and research.”

Footnoted has been lauded by BusinessWeek, CNN/Money, Financial Times, Fortune, Time, and The Wall Street Journal.

Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net