06. Company History

6.1 When and how did the company start?
6.2 Have its structure and operations remained the same?
6.3 Summarize key events in the company’s recent history.
6.4 List recent mergers and/or acquisitions.

To fully under­stand a firm, it is impor­tant to place it in a his­tor­i­cal per­spec­tive. Is the firm the same today as it was at its found­ing, or has it mor­phed into an entirely new entity? Under­stand­ing recent events, such as merg­ers and acqui­si­tions, helps us to make sense of what is hap­pen­ing in the firm today.

The company web site is an excellent place to start investigating the company’s history. More recent events may be included in the company annual report or in the company Form 10-K which is available from the SEC’s EDGAR database.

A general news search may be helpful for more recent history.  Crunchbase collects a variety of data and other information on corporations, including corporate history. For older materials use Google News Archive or the Wayback machine which allows you to look at historical web sites back to 1996.

The Business Journal is a collection of local newspapers focused on business and contains useful corporate history.  Requires a subscription, so check local libraries for access.

Paid Resources (Requires Subscriptions)

Mergent Market Atlas is an excellent sources of information on corporate history.

Mergent Archive has annual reports and other corporate information back to 1909.

ProQuest offers a database of corporate annual reports going back to the 1800’s.