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How To Find Company Information on the Internet

© Gillian Davis

Anyone who's ever had to do it can tell you - researching a company can be a daunting task.

Typically the first place that a searcher will look is the Internet. They might browse for a while and find a few bits of information, then maybe visit the local library and get a little more information from the directories and other business sources there. But then they hit a brick wall.

Surfing the 'net and browsing business directories will get you basic company information such as location, address, maybe a contact name, annual sales figures, number of employees, press releases, and perhaps some news if the company is newsworthy.

But in order to find more you have to know where to look. The Internet and the local library can be excellent tools for company research but you have to dig deeper, and know which databases to use.

Starting Places . . .

If you're fairly new to company research, I don't know of a better way to get yourself started than by taking Debbie Flanagan's excellent tutorial Researching Companies on the Internet. Her tutorial shows you how to find free company and industry information on the Internet, and will introduce you to some great resources.

Also be sure to spend time at Hoover's Online, which is one of the relatively few resources that provides information on private companies, which can be especially difficult to research. The Hoover's database contains many of the largest and fastest-growing companies.

Another place to get a good overview of a company is Dow Jones Company Profiles. Has a company name search, industry search, search by telephone number, ticker symbol, and Website. Contains information on both public and private companies.

Corporate Information is useful for finding international as well as North American company data. Searches both private and public companies. This is an excellent source for hard to find corporate resources on different countries.

A highly-recommended resource for all aspects of business and company research is Fuld & Company's Internet Intelligence Index. Fuld is a leader in competitive intelligence on the Web and the resources indexed here are indicative of that. Spend some time here.

And don't forget to check out Gary Price's Direct Search - Business Resources, which links to invisible Web business databases and resources not easily accessible to most search tools.

For Annual Reports . . .

If it's annual reports you're after, start with EDGAR Online. All public companies are required to disclose their financial details to the Securites and Exchange Commission (SEC). You can access annual and quarterly reports from EDGAR. Other resources for annual reports include The Annual Reports Gallery (which includes Tips for Reading an Annual Report), The Report Gallery, and Annual Report Service.