Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, has acquired 10-K Wizard, a leading provider of SEC EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) filing research and alert services, for $12.5 million subject to working capital adjustments.
"There is a great wealth of information available to the public through the SEC's EDGAR system, but navigating the myriad filings to find relevant information can be a challenge," said Liz Kirscher, president of Morningstar's data services business. "The acquisition of 10-K Wizard aligns with our goal of bringing greater transparency to equity investments. 10-K Wizard is a well-respected resource for financial research, and the company has developed a robust and intuitive data mining application that allows users to easily search and retrieve information across different filings and time periods. 10-K Wizard's technology not only sheds light on stock investments, but can be applied to documents of all kinds, like mutual fund prospectuses."
Founded in 1999, 10-K Wizard offers full-text searching capabilities for real-time and historical SEC EDGAR filings. Available via a subscription service or custom data feed, 10-K Wizard also provides global company profiles that contain hyperlinks to annual reports and peer companies as well as stock quotes, news, and charts. The full-text search capabilities allow users to research and track corporate information by ticker symbol, company name, industry type, SIC code, financial form type, or specific industry keywords contained within the filings themselves. Based in Dallas, Texas, 10-K Wizard has about 25 employees and currently has more than 30,000 licensed users across 1,400 firms.
"We share a common mission with Morningstar -- gathering comprehensive data and information and combining it with robust technology and intuitive design to create tools that help people make better decisions," said Martin Zacarias, CEO of 10-K Wizard. "Both companies have a passion for research, and with its global reach and technology resources, Morningstar offers a clear strategic fit for 10-K Wizard. As a Morningstar company, we will have access to a vast array of additional data and resources that will allow us to enhance our products for all of the market segments we serve."