A private company is a company wholly owned by an individual/family or a group of investors. A private company does not sell shares of stock and is not required to disclose any information about the company to either the government or the public. Doing research on a private company requires a little digging and a little luck. Any information located should be considered suspect until it has been verified in a second source. Look for entries in databases that provide private company data and for articles about the companies in article databases.
Databases with private company entries:
A scholarly business database providing bibliographic and full text content. Business Source Complete provides full text journals in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Additional full text, non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses and more. Business Source Complete contains indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back to 1886, searchable cited references for many journals, and detailed author profiles for the most-cited authors in the database.
A public company is a company owned by stock shareholders. A public company has a duty to its shareholders to release information about the financial state of the company. Additionally, public companies file annual reports with their shareholders and report financial data to the Securities and Exchange Commission (a branch of the federal government). This data is made available to the public to view. Locating information on public companies is easier because they must file reports. Many databases and government web sites provide access to public company data.
Selected databases to locate public company entries:
A scholarly business database providing bibliographic and full text content. Business Source Complete provides full text journals in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Additional full text, non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses and more. Business Source Complete contains indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back to 1886, searchable cited references for many journals, and detailed author profiles for the most-cited authors in the database.
Covers over 50,000 US and foreign public companies, current and historical (past 15 years) firm descriptions, statistics, financial information and ratios, annual reports, mergers, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, long-term debt, capital stock, and insider trading. Provides tools for both interactive online research and easy predefined report access. Tools and reports are reflected across multiple product modules including Company, Sustainability, Industry, Country and Economic analysis.
A multidimensional investment management resource that enables both new and experienced investors to make timely, better-informed decisions. It provides a wealth of in-depth financial information, plus objective research, commentary, price projections, and analytical tools.
