Finding information on private companies can be quite challenging. If the company is very small and/or private, it may be necessary to piece the information together from many sources.
Contains information for millions of U.S. businesses nationwide. Search by company name, size, revenue or business costs (often these figures are estimated), location, industry, or many other characteristics. Choose US Businesses or US Standard White Pages, then Advanced Search. Exporting of data is limited to 100 items on-campus or 50 off-campus.
Mergent Intellect is useful for locating information about private companies. Intellect also covers public companies and includes a broad range of industry reports. Note: public company records in Intellect are not as detailed as those available in Mergent Online.
Use of the Mergent data and service are intended for non-commercial academic purposes only.
PrivCo database is UST Library’s premier source for finding information on privately-held companies. Company profiles include an overview of the firm, its leadership team/owners, and company financials. The profiles also contain, when available, detailed information on VC and private equity funding, private M&A deals, patent and copyright litigation, and IPO activities. Register for a free personal account or use the Direct Access button.
Links to websites for the state government agency responsible for registering corporations in their states, from the National Association of Secretaries of State. The filings, searching, access, and archive will vary from state to state. Since companies are required to file with the Secretary of State of the state in which they are established, these filings may be all there is available.
Covers more than 100,000 U.S. companies, 90% of which are private. Includes company assets and operating revenue, employee figures, and SIC and NAICS industry codes.
D&B Hoovers provides company information from about 18 million global companies, detailed industry reports, analyst reports, SEC filings, and market research.
Factiva is a great source for finding up-to-the-minute news articles from publications around the world including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Financial Times. It also contains many smaller market news sources, trade magazines, and journals. Use the Companies and Markets option to access company profiles and industry data. Limited to 6 simultaneous users.
If you use Factiva's Share>Within My Account feature to find links for emailing or to use in Canvas, append the following code to the end of the URL to make it permanent and accessible off-campus: append the XSID to the end of the URL, in this format: &XSID=S003XNq3G7l1WFp5DEs5DEmM9aqNDQqN9ByMHmnRsIuMcNG1pRRQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQQAA
An excellent source for company and industry research, including financial and ratio analysis. Contains the former Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys and Stock Reports (now produced by CFRA Equity Research). Also includes mutual fund/ETF and bond information, investment research reports, stock screening and charting tools.
All 50 states make some level of corporate and business filings (including private business incorporation information) available online. In a few instances only limited information (such as name availability) is retrievable. The majority of the states, however, have a site that provides a range of private company business records, often at no charge.
A ranking of the private companies in the US that have annual revenues of $2 billion or greater. Click on a company name on the list for further information about that company.
Top 100 private technology companies in the Global, North American, Europe, and Asia categories.
What's a Private Company?
A private company is a company that's not traded on any stock exchange. Generally, private companies do not have to file documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC.)
Find News and Journal Articles on Private Companies
US Newsstream enables users to search current U.S. news content, as well as archives that stretch back into the 1980s. It features top newspapers, wires, broadcast transcripts, along with national and regional news sources including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Star Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and Chicago Tribune.
Contains thousands of national and international newspapers and other news sources, including campus news, broadcast news transcripts and business news. Excellent source for smaller news outlets.
Contains full-text articles from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal which provides in-depth news about Minnesota companies, the local business environment, and the Annual Book of Lists. It also contains additional business journals from other cities that covers regional news from across the United States. Users must sign up for a free account using their UST email with a separate password. Available only to current UST students, faculty, and staff. Works best with Chrome.
News articles from publications around the world including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Financial Times. It also contains many smaller market news sources, trade magazines, and journals. Limited to 6 simultaneous users.
If you use Factiva's Share>Within My Account feature to find links for emailing or to use in Canvas, append the following code to the end of the URL to make it permanent and accessible off-campus: append the XSID to the end of the URL, in this format: &XSID=S003XNq3G7l1WFp5DEs5DEmM9aqNDQqN9ByMHmnRsIuMcNG1pRRQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQQAA
Includes articles from trade publications and scholarly journals as well as company profiles, investment research reports, industry reports, market research, country reports, and SWOT analysis.