Finding Company Information

Example Questions That Can Be Answered Using This FAQ

• How much money did Yahoo make last year?
• Who’s the president of Xerox?

Free, Online Resources

• Forbes Lists, on Forbes.com, includes “best” and “top” lists of companies, such as “America’s Best Small Companies” and “400 Best Big Companies.” Company names in the lists are linked to company profiles and related news articles.
• ThomasNet: a directory of industrial products, services, and suppliers in the United States and Canada that can be used to find contact numbers, addresses, affiliations, etc. for over 600,000 companies.
• Company researchers may also want to consult the Yahoo! Finance Company and Fund Index which offers "company profiles from Market Guide, who provides users with information on over 9,000 public companies, including contact information, business summaries, officer and employee information, sector and industry classifications, business and earnings announcement summaries, and financial statistics and ratios. Yahoo adds stock charts based on historical data from Commodity Systems, Inc. (CSI), and links to other resources."

Other Resources

A good place to start research is at your local public or college library. To find company information, try looking in the print directories Hoover’s Handbooks (multiple titles) or Standard and Poor’s Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives.

Many libraries also offer their patrons access to databases, such as Business and Company Resource Center or Reference USA, that provide extensive information about companies and businesses. Although databases are offered online, they require a login; this is usually a current library card number. Ask your librarian for assistance and for other sources of company information.

Not sure how to find your library? Go to our Library Locator page where we’ve listed resources to help you find the nearest physical library to you.

This FAQ updated by Kara Larson in 2012.