Question: Where can I get information on private companies?

Answer


A private company is held under private ownership. Private companies may issue stock and have shareholders, but their shares do not trade on public exchanges and are not issued through an initial public offering (IPO).

Information on private companies, and even subsidiaries/divisions of public companies, can be challenging. Private companies generally do not have to report their financials, or because they may be small or in industries that don't get much press coverage.

Also, public parent companies generally do not have to break out information on their subsidiaries/divisions. Sales/revenue figures may be self-reported and could differ greatly from one source to another. 

Go to the Business Library's Company & Financial Information section for links to useful resources including links to the following suggested resources. 

ReferenceUSA contains detailed information on millions of US businesses, including historical, closed and new businesses.

Hoover's: Go the search bar and enter the company name and choose the entity.

Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage: Provides some private company information. Go to the search bar and enter the company name, choose the entity you want.

You also may want to consider searching for a company website, a trade organization website that will include your company, various job sites such as the Vault, and a news search in local news sources for additional information.

 

Answered By: Business Librarians
Last Updated: Mar 01, 2022Views:

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