Proxies/Backgrounding Companies

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Neat New Stuff on the Web: A great list of resources, updated weekly, from library researcher Marylaine Block.

SiloBreaker: An online search service for news and current events that delivers meaning and relevance beyond traditional search and aggregation engines.

GuerrillaNews.com: Explores various global issues with links to articles, headlines, videos and blogs.

Yahoo! Finance Earnings Calendar: Track when earnings reports are due.

Greenpeace: Stop Greenwashing: Greenwashing describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. This site provides case studies of companies that greenwash, as well as other criteria and how to suggestions for businesses to go green ethically.

The Center for Public Integrity has compiled a comprehensive two-million-record database that includes every federal lobbying document filed since 1998. Read more.
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Yahoo! Finance Page
Information on thousands of companies. If you're looking for shareholder information, enter the company name or ticker symbol, hit "get quote," then look for the "profile" link under "more info." About halfway down the page, on the left gutter, there's a breakdown of insiders and big owners.

Yahoo! Finance Vision
Video-centric financial information and news.

Investment Adviser Public Disclosure
The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has just announced a new Web site that allows users to look up information about SEC- and state-registered investment advisor firms. Users can search for firms and pull up their most recent Form ADV, the form that firms file to register with the SEC or the states. The form contains information about the firm's operations, its key personnel, and disciplinary actions involving the firm. The site also provides links to related sites, such as state regulators and the Central Registration Depository Public Disclosure on the Internet.

Searchsystems.net
Links to almost 5,000 public records databases. Claims to be the largest free collection of public records databases on the Web. Formerly the PAC-Info. site, just click on a state and you'll get a list of all free public record collections for that state. Most include incorporation filings.

National Association of Secretaries of State: Corporate Backgrounders
The site offers many resources on business research.

Securities and Exchange Commission
Federal agency with proxy information and more.

U.S. Trademarks Search

Hoover's Master List Plus Database
Information on more than 9,000 companies.

Hoover's IPO Central

Statistics of U.S. businesses
State-level business information broken down by 10 classes.

Businesswebsource.com
Search directories of businesses.

The Annual Report Gallery
Annual reports, some in HTM others .pdf files of the printed versions, for more than 2,000 companies.

MSN?s Investment Portal Site
Research public companies in the United States.

Multex Investor
Part of Reuters, this site offers company snapshots(about 75-100 words each). Free registration required.

CorporateInformation.com
A free site with profiles from Wright Investor Services. You'll need to register but very little info is required.

Kompass
Limited free international profiles of businesses.

Business.com Company Search

Stock Market Yellow Pages
A search engine of company descriptions from Market Guide, Forbes, Hoover's, Yahoo, etc.

New York Public Library: How To Find U.S. Company Information

SprintMail: How To Research Companies on the Net

CBS Marketwatch.com Company Snapshots from Hoover's

EDGAR Boss Salary Database
Track how much corporate bosses make by searching SEC filings through EDGAR Online People.

CNBC on MSN Money: Insider Trading
Lists the companies that have had the most insider trading -- transactions by corporate insiders or major shareholders -- in the past 30 days. You can then click on the company symbols to find out which individuals have been trading and how much they've bought or sold.

Internet Prospector
Locate corporation records online.

Moody's
Several great business research tools. You can find bond ratings in your area. Also be sure to check each agency's "watchlist."

Standard and Poor's
Another site for finding bond ratings

Federal Trade Commission
A great resource for researching scams.

Better Business Bureau: Check Out a Company
Search a database of companies and their background information.

U.S. Department of Justice: Special Report on 9-11 Fraud Schemes
A breakdown of fraudulent charities asking for donations.

Federal Trade Commission: Warnings on Bioterrorism Defense Products

FDA: Buying Medicines and Medical Products Online
A consumer fraud/scams site.

Federal Trade Commission: Multilevel Marketing Plans
A great resource for researching scams.

ICann.org: Securing Domain Names
Updates on domain name assigning process.

Planet Feedback.com
A consumer complaint site.

The Corporate Library
The Corporate Library is an independent research firm focused on corporate governance and director & executive compensation as indicators of performance, and is the creator of the Board Analyst database and suite of tools.

Internet Prospector Corporation Records
Links to secretary of states offices.

SpamCop.net
Report businesses and people who submit SPAM e-mails.

Securities Data
Statistics on initial public offerings, mergers, municipal finance, etc.

The Economist's Country Guides
This site offers background on 60 countries. Check out profiles, financial statistics, news updates and suggested Internet resources for each country.

Business Web 100
List of the 100 largest corporations on the Web by revenue: American, global and by industry. Includes lists of companies? divisions.

FDA Children and Tobacco Compliance Checker
An FDA database of every business that has been cited for selling cigarettes to minors -- searchable by zip code. Also try this database.

MediaChannel: Global Ownership Chart
Thanks to the merger boom, media power is more concentrated than ever. A new online chart presents the global media overlords in vivid color.

Better Business Bureau
Information on more than 9,000 companies.

Global Business Garden
Search a database of thousands of company profiles.

Forbes People Tracker
Forbes magazine has a database of industry leaders.