Morningstar Acquires Footnoted.org

Morningstar has acquired Footnoted.org, the terms of the deal undisclosed.

Footnoted searches through Securities and Exchange Commission filings to unearth critical information buried in the fine print, such as evidence of aggressive accounting, excessive compensation or self-dealing. Professional money managers and analysts, as well as sophisticated retail investors, use the website. The company also publishes Footnoted Pro for such institutional investors as hedge funds.

Michelle Leder, an author and journalist who founded Footnoted six years ago, will continue to run the website, and Morningstar will post some of its information on its website. In the near future, footnoted.org will become footnoted.com, and Morningstar will offer Footnoted Pro to its individual investor, adviser and institutional clients.

“Morningstar is always looking for ways to provide investors with information to make investing as transparent as possible,” said Kunal Kapoor, president of individual investor software at Morningstar. “There are few better examples of that principle in action that the work Footnoted does to demystify the often-complex details hidden deep in companies’ federal filings. Its content is a natural fit with our investor-centric offerings at Morningstar.com, and is a perfect companion to our tools, reports and research.”