User:Sf software guy/Stockpoint

Stockpoint was a provider since 1995 of online financial information (quotes, charts, portfolio tracking, etc.) through its websites InvestorsEdge.com and Stockpoint.com. The company also supplied SaaS (software as a service) capabilities which powered the financial features of many other websites such as Wired News and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Stockpoint was later acquired, and is now part of Dow Jones Client Solutions, a division of News Corporation.

Business Overview

Stockpoint had two core parts of its business:

• a B2C (business-to-consumer) website. The company's website was first launched as InvestorsEdge.com in 1995, and changed its name to Stockpoint.com in 1997. The site offered free lookup of stock quotes, charts of historical performance, mutual fund comparisons, financial news, and more. Competitors in Stockpoint's early years included quote.com and MSN Investor (now MSN MoneyCentral).
• a SaaS (software as a service) offering for companies wanting to integrate financial information and data into their own websites. For example, the San Francisco Chronicle and Wired News websites both used Stockpoint's solutions to provide financial data features on their sites. In addition, some companies used stockpoint solutions to add financial features to corporate Intranets, for example tracking the performance of mutual funds in a company's 401(k) plan.

In 1997, Stockpoint developed technology which dramatically lowered the cost and complexity of customizing a SaaS solution for individual corporate clients. This led to increasing profitability for the SaaS part of the business. Meanwhile, increased competition put pressure on margins of the B2C website. Eventually, custom SaaS solutions became the focus of the company, with the B2C website serving as a proving ground for new SaaS features.

After the company was acquired by competitor MarketWatch in 2003 (see below), the stockpoint.com website was retired, and the SaaS solutions continued.

Early History

The company, originally named Ethos Corporation, was founded in 1994 by Patrick Connolly, Sean John Connolly, Chris Dominguez, and Michael Bloom. Early employees included Laura Watts, Justin Grant, Susan Hense, Rob Lamb, and Jeff Broderick.

After a short stay in Mill Valley, CA (home of the founders) Stockpoint relocated to the Financial District, San Francisco, California in an office directly above a popular bar, the Royal Exchange. Stockpoint hosted a raucous annual party at its San Francisco offices in honor of Saint Patrick's Day.

Stockpoint in its first years fit the image of a stereotypical startup. The sole conference room doubled as an engineer's office, and business meetings were often interrputed by a frantic developer running in to fix an urgent bug. Early employees had to build their own offices and bring in their own desks and chairs. Rock music and beer were common in the office, suits and ties were not.

Like many small startups, Stockpoint benefitted from partnerships with larger companies, such as Hewlett Packard. and Microsoft, looking to gain credibility via association with popular websites. Partners in turn provided publicity and discounts which helped Stockpoint to survive on a small budget in its earliest days.

Acquisitions and Later History

The company was acquired by Iowa-based Neural Applications Corp. on May 5, 1997. Neural, which later changed its name to Stockpoint, was acquired by content aggregator ScreamingMedia in 2001 for $21M.

ScreamingMedia, which changed its name to Pinnacor in 2002, was acquired by MarketWatch in 2003 for $103M. Over time, stockpoint.com website traffic was merged into marketwatch.com, while Stockpoint's SaaS offerings continued.

MarketWatch was acquired by Dow Jones in 2004 for $519M. Stockpoint's SaaS services continue as part of Dow Jones Client Solutions.

Dow Jones was acquired by News Corp in 2007., although the merger does not seem to have affected the ex-Stockpoint pieces of Dow Jones Client Solutions.