Standard & Poor's Overview: Standard & Poor's (S&P) is a division of publicly-traded McGraw-Hill, headquartered in New York. Its main lines of business include:
- Credit Ratings
- Market Indices
- Investment Research
- Risk Evaluation
- Financial Data and Information
Size: Standard & Poor's reports these figures as of June, 2008:
- Employees = over 8,500
- Employees in 23 countries and markets
- Equity Research covers over 2,000 stocks
- Value of debt rated globally = over $32 trillion
- Ratings published in 2007(new and revised) = over 510,000
Positives: Standard & Poor's is the leader among rating agencies, both in terms of the size of its professional staff and in the breadth of its coverage of securities issuers. S&P entered this business in 1923. Its corporate parent, McGraw-Hill, is a leader in business publishing and business data services, offering potential career opportunities there as well. However, in 2011 rumors began to grow concerning possible plans to divest some of its divisions.
Negatives: See the rating agencies overview.
