Moody's

Moody's Corporation is a United States-based financial services and financial intelligence company whose businesses provide credit opinions, research, data, software, models, and advisory services to participants in global capital markets. The company is best known for Moody's Ratings, historically called Moody's Investors Service, one of the three largest internationally recognized credit-rating agencies alongside S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings. Its ratings cover sovereign and municipal issuers, corporations, financial institutions, asset-backed and mortgage-related securities, investment funds, and other forms of structured finance. The company traces its commercial origins to John Moody's financial publishing activities at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1900, Moody published a manual containing statistical information and assessments of industrial and miscellaneous securities. The publication developed into a nationally recognized source of information on railroads, corporations, government entities, utilities, mining companies, manufacturers, and other issuers. After financial pressures forced John Moody to sell the original business, he returned in 1909 with a new company and a publication focused on railroad bonds. This later became the foundation for Moody's modern rating and analytical business. Moody's was acquired by Dun & Bradstreet in 1962. For several decades it operated within that broader credit-information group, although the Moody's business retained a substantial degree of operational independence. During the 1990s, Moody's growth and profitability generated pressure to separate it from its parent. Dun & Bradstreet ultimately spun off Moody's Investors Service as an independently traded company on September 30, 2000, creating Moody's Corporation as a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MCO. In 2007, Moody's reorganized its activities into two principal operating divisions. Moody's Investors Service continued the traditional credit-rating business, while Moody's Analytics brought together the company's non-rating activities, including economic research, credit-risk tools, financial models, structured-finance analysis, software, consulting, data, and professional education. In later corporate branding, Moody's Investors Service became Moody's Ratings, while Moody's Analytics was increasingly presented under the broader Moody's name. Moody's Ratings remains the company's most historically prominent business. Its opinions are used by investors, banks, corporations, governments, regulators, and other market participants as one input into evaluating relative creditworthiness. The agency uses letter-based rating scales ranging from the highest-quality Aaa category through lower speculative and distressed categories, with numerical modifiers used for many ratings to provide additional differentiation. Ratings are not guarantees of repayment, but they can influence borrowing costs, investment mandates, collateral rules, capital allocation, and access to debt markets. The broader Moody's business has expanded beyond ratings into technology-enabled risk intelligence. Its offerings include credit research, economic and market data, portfolio analytics, enterprise risk management, financial modeling, climate-risk information, insurance and catastrophe-risk models, compliance tools, workflow software, consulting, and training. The company has also used acquisitions and partnerships to extend its capabilities. Notable transactions and business additions have included KMV, Economy.com, Wall Street Analytics, Fermat International, CSI Global Education, Bureau van Dijk, Four Twenty Seven, and Risk Management Solutions. Moody's has also developed a corporate philanthropy platform through The Moody's Foundation. Its initiatives support education in mathematics, economics, finance, and quantitative analysis. The foundation's best-known program is the Moody's Mega Math Cha…

Moody's Corporation grew from the financial publishing and analytical work of John Moody, who helped establish modern bond credit ratings. In 1900, John Moody founded John Moody & Company and published Moody's Manual of Industrial and Miscellaneous Securities. The manual compiled financial statistics and assessments concerning a wide range of issuers, including financial institutions, government agencies, manufacturers, mining companies, utilities, and food businesses. Its first edition sold out rapidly, and by 1903 the publication had achieved national recognition. The financial crisis of 1907 changed the environment in which financial information companies operated. John Moody experienced a shortage of capital and was forced to sell his original business. He returned in 1909 with Analysis of Railroad Investments and a new company, Moody's Analyses Publishing Company. The new publication concentrated on railroad bonds, an important segment of the rapidly expanding U.S. capital market. Moody's work helped popularize the idea that investors could use standardized opinions and symbols to compare the relative credit quality of debt securities. Over time, the Moody's business expanded from railroad analysis to corporate, government, municipal, financial-institution, and structured-finance obligations. The ratings operation became Moody's Investors Service, while the broader organization developed related research and information products. In 1962, Moody's Investors Service was acquired by Dun & Bradstreet, a company with complementary interests in credit reporting and business information. Moody's continued to function as a recognizable business within the Dun & Bradstreet group, although it maintained considerable operational independence. By the 1990s, Moody's performance and growth had made it increasingly distinct from its parent. Investor pressure encouraged Dun & Bradstreet to separate its businesses. In 1998, Dun & Bradstreet sold the Moody's publishing business to Financial Communications, later renamed Mergent. In December 1999, Dun & Bradstreet announced plans to spin off Moody's Investors Service. The transaction was completed on September 30, 2000, when Moody's Corporation became a separately traded public company on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MCO. The independent company continued to develop both ratings and non-rating activities. Its traditional ratings business served debt markets across government, municipal, corporate, financial, investment-management, and structured-finance sectors. Its analytical activities broadened into quantitative risk assessment, financial modeling, economic research, software, data, and advisory services. In 2007, Moody's formalized the distinction between the two sides of the business. Moody's Investors Service retained responsibility for credit ratings, while Moody's Analytics housed other products and services. Moody's Analytics had roots in earlier quantitative-analysis activities, including a business unit known as Moody's Risk Management Service. Beginning in the 1990s and continuing through the 2000s, the company expanded its capabilities through partnerships and acquisitions. Businesses associated with its growth included KMV, Economy.com, Wall Street Analytics, Fermat International, Enb Consulting, the Institute of Risk Standards and Qualifications, CSI Global Education, and Bureau van Dijk. These additions strengthened the company's economic research, credit modeling, financial-data, compliance, education, and workflow-software offerings. The company also developed specialized research initiatives. Moody's Research Labs operated as an incubator focused on financial-risk modeling and analysis. It produced tools for use by other Moody's divisions, including a Mortgage Portfolio Analyzer announced by Moody's Analytics in 2011. The research-lab operation was dissolved in February 2012. Moody's history has also been shaped by regulatory and legal scrutiny. During and after the global financial crisis, plaintiffs and public authorities alleged that rating agencies had contributed to market instability by assigning overly favorable ratings to certain structured-finance instruments or by failing to manage conflicts of interest appropriately. Moody's reached settlements in several proceedings, including matters involving public-bond ratings, shareholder claims, crisis-era structured-finance ratings, U.S. federal and state allegations, and European Union conflict-of-interest concerns. Alongside its commercial activities, Moody's has maintained a philanthropic presence. The Moody's Foundation was established in 2002 to support education in mathematics, economics, and finance. Since 2006, its principal program has been the Moody's Mega Math Challenge, conducted with the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. The competition asks high-school students to use quantitative modeling to address practical issues involving finance, public policy, and the economy. In the late 2010s and early 2020s, Moody's expanded into climate and physical-risk intelligence. It acquired a majority stake in Four Twenty Seven in 2019 and purchased Risk Management Solutions in 2021 for approximately $2 billion, according to the supplied reference material. These moves connected the company's established credit and financial-risk expertise with climate exposure, catastrophe modeling, insurance, and reinsurance analytics. Moody's was also included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index in December 2022. Today, the company operates as a global provider of ratings, research, data, models, software, and advisory services, with its historic credit-rating franchise complemented by a wider financial intelligence platform.

1. 2022Moody's joins the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index

   The company was added to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index in December 2022.

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2. 2021Moody's acquires Risk Management Solutions

   The acquisition broadened Moody's insurance, reinsurance, catastrophe-risk, and natural-hazard modeling capabilities.

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3. 2021Moody's appears on the Fortune 500 for the first time

   Moody's Corporation was included in the Fortune 500 ranking for the first time.

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4. 2019Moody's expands climate-risk data capabilities

   Moody's acquired a majority stake in Four Twenty Seven, adding data concerning the physical effects of climate change.

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5. 2012Moody's Research Labs is dissolved

   The specialized internal research and incubation operation was discontinued.

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6. 2011Moody's Research Labs releases Mortgage Portfolio Analyzer

   The research incubator developed a software tool intended to help portfolio managers evaluate and manage mortgage-credit risk.

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7. 2007Moody's creates separate ratings and analytics divisions

   Moody's Investors Service remained the ratings business, while Moody's Analytics consolidated the company's other products and services.

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8. 2006Moody's Mega Math Challenge begins

   The foundation launched its principal annual quantitative-modeling competition in partnership with the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

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9. 2002The Moody's Foundation is established

   The company created a philanthropic foundation focused on education in mathematics, economics, and finance.

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10. 2000Moody's Corporation becomes an independent public company

    Dun & Bradstreet completed the spin-off of Moody's Investors Service on September 30, creating the separately listed Moody's Corporation.

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11. 1998Dun & Bradstreet sells the Moody's publishing business

    The publishing operation was sold to Financial Communications, which was later renamed Mergent.

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12. 1995Quantitative risk-management activities develop

    Moody's developed a business unit offering quantitative credit-risk assessment software and services, later associated with Moody's Analytics.

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13. 1962Moody's Investors Service is acquired by Dun & Bradstreet

    Dun & Bradstreet acquired Moody's Investors Service, bringing the ratings company into a larger credit-information group.

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14. 1909John Moody establishes the company that became Moody's

    After returning to financial publishing, John Moody founded Moody's Analyses Publishing Company and launched a railroad-bond analysis publication.

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15. 1903Moody's Manual gains national recognition

    The publication became a nationally recognized source of information about stocks, bonds, and issuer finances.

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16. 1900John Moody publishes the first Moody's financial manual

    John Moody established John Moody & Company and published a manual compiling statistics and assessments on industrial and miscellaneous securities.

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Moody's positions itself as an independent, analytical, and globally trusted provider of credit opinions and financial risk intelligence. Its ratings business is commonly grouped with S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings as the global Big Three credit-rating agencies. Through its wider analytics, data, software, modeling, and consulting activities, the company also competes in financial information services, enterprise risk management, economic research, insurance modeling, climate-risk intelligence, and professional education.

• Moody's RatingsCredit ratings1909

  Moody's Ratings is the company's traditional credit-rating business, previously known as Moody's Investors Service. It assesses the relative creditworthiness of debt issuers and securities across sovereign, municipal, corporate, financial-institution, investment-management, and structured-finance markets. Its rating opinions use a letter-based scale, including categories from Aaa through lower-quality speculative and distressed grades, with numerical modifiers applied to many ratings. The service is used by investors and other market participants as an analytical input rather than as a guarantee of repayment.

• Moody's AnalyticsFinancial analytics and risk software2007

  Moody's Analytics brought together the company's non-rating products after the 2007 organizational split. Its activities include economic research, credit-risk assessment, portfolio analysis, financial modeling, structured-finance tools, enterprise risk management, compliance support, workflow software, consulting, and professional training. The business developed from quantitative-analysis services and expanded through acquisitions and partnerships in economic data, credit modeling, financial technology, education, and risk management.

• Credit researchResearch and market intelligence

  Moody's credit research products provide analysis and commentary intended to help investors, lenders, corporations, and other financial professionals interpret issuer fundamentals, market conditions, default risk, sector developments, and the implications of credit events. The research layer complements formal ratings by offering deeper context, surveillance, scenario analysis, and sector or geographic perspectives across fixed-income and credit markets.

• Economic and market dataEconomic research and data

  Moody's provides economic research, forecasts, datasets, indicators, and analytical tools covering macroeconomic conditions, financial markets, industries, countries, and regional economies. These resources support financial modeling, investment research, credit assessment, planning, stress testing, and strategic decision-making. The offering reflects the company's expansion beyond issuer ratings into broader financial intelligence and decision-support services.

• Climate-risk intelligenceClimate and physical-risk analytics2019

  Moody's climate-risk capabilities use data and analytical models to assess how physical climate hazards and related environmental changes may affect companies, governments, assets, and portfolios. The company expanded this area through its majority investment in Four Twenty Seven in 2019. Climate-risk information can be used in credit analysis, investment decisions, disclosure, scenario analysis, resilience planning, and long-term risk management.

• Risk Management SolutionsInsurance and catastrophe-risk modeling

  Risk Management Solutions, acquired by Moody's in 2021, develops models and data for insurance and reinsurance risk, including catastrophe exposure and natural hazards. Its capabilities help insurers, reinsurers, financial institutions, governments, and other organizations estimate potential losses, evaluate portfolios, price risk, and conduct resilience or capital planning. The business complements Moody's existing credit, climate, and enterprise-risk analytics.

• The Moody's FoundationCorporate philanthropy2002

  The Moody's Foundation is the company's philanthropic platform. It supports educational initiatives in mathematics, economics, and finance through grants to eligible nonprofit organizations, schools, and selected governmental or international institutions. Its principal public program is the Moody's Mega Math Challenge, which encourages students to apply mathematical modeling and quantitative reasoning to practical economic and public-policy questions.

• 2006Moody's Mega Math Challenge

  United States

  The Moody's Foundation established an annual high-school modeling competition with the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Teams use mathematics, statistics, and quantitative reasoning to address real-world issues involving finance, government programs, economic policy, and social planning.

  Outcome. The program became the foundation's signature educational initiative and continued to expand after 2010.

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• 2021Acquire Risk Management SolutionsM&A

  Moody's sought to broaden its financial-risk platform into insurance, reinsurance, catastrophe exposure, and natural-hazard modeling.

  What changed. Moody's acquired Risk Management Solutions from Daily Mail and General Trust.

  Aftermath. The acquisition added insurance and catastrophe-risk models to Moody's portfolio and connected these capabilities with its existing credit, climate, and enterprise-risk products.

  Acquisition value. $2 billion (2021 acquisition)

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• 2019Acquire a majority stake in Four Twenty SevenM&A

  Climate change and physical environmental hazards were increasingly being treated as factors that could affect the creditworthiness and financial resilience of companies and governments.

  What changed. Moody's acquired a majority share in Four Twenty Seven, a climate-risk data company focused on measuring physical climate exposures.

  Aftermath. The transaction strengthened Moody's climate-risk and environmental data capabilities.

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• 2007Separate ratings from analyticsStrategy

  Moody's had developed substantial businesses beyond credit ratings, including software, economic research, financial modeling, and risk-management tools.

  What changed. The company organized its operations into Moody's Investors Service for ratings and Moody's Analytics for other products and services.

  Aftermath. The structure clarified the distinction between Moody's regulated ratings franchise and its broader financial-intelligence activities.

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• 2000Spin off Moody's as an independent public companyStrategy

  Moody's performance and growth had made it increasingly distinct from Dun & Bradstreet, prompting investor pressure to separate the businesses.

  What changed. Dun & Bradstreet completed the spin-off of Moody's Investors Service on September 30, 2000, creating the separately listed Moody's Corporation.

  Aftermath. Moody's gained an independent public-company structure and continued expanding both ratings and non-rating activities.

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• 1962Join Dun & BradstreetM&A

  Moody's operated in a field related to Dun & Bradstreet's established credit-reporting and business-information activities.

  What changed. Dun & Bradstreet acquired Moody's Investors Service while allowing it to continue operating as a substantially distinct business.

  Aftermath. Moody's remained within the Dun & Bradstreet group until its eventual separation as a public company.

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• 2021European Union conflict-of-interest settlementControversy

  Moody's reached a settlement with the European Union regarding conflicts of interest and paid a reported €3.7 million fine.

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• 2017U.S. settlement concerning pre-financial-crisis ratings conductControversy

  Moody's agreed to an $863 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, 21 states, and the District of Columbia. The matter concerned allegations related to ratings for residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations before the global financial crisis.

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• 2013Crisis-era structured-investment-vehicle litigationControversy

  Moody's settled litigation brought by plaintiffs including Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and King County, Washington. The claims alleged that Moody's had misled purchasers by assigning inflated ratings to two structured investment vehicles.

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• 2012Shareholder litigation over structured-finance ratingsControversy

  The company reached a settlement with shareholders in lawsuits concerning ratings assigned to structured-finance products.

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• 2011Connecticut public-bond rating claimsControversy

  Moody's settled claims brought by the state of Connecticut alleging that the rating company had treated public bonds unfairly by assigning lower ratings.

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• 2022Moody's was added to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index

  Moody's Corporation was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, reflecting its recognition within a sustainability-focused market index.

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• 2021Moody's acquired Risk Management Solutions

  Moody's purchased Risk Management Solutions from Daily Mail and General Trust, adding insurance, reinsurance, catastrophe-risk, and natural-hazard modeling capabilities to its analytics portfolio.

  M&A
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• 2019Moody's acquired a majority stake in Four Twenty Seven

  Moody's expanded its climate-risk capabilities by purchasing a majority interest in Four Twenty Seven, a company focused on data measuring the physical risks associated with climate change.

  M&AProduct launch
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• 2007Moody's reorganized its activities into ratings and analytics divisions

  The company separated its traditional ratings operation from its other products and services, establishing Moody's Investors Service and Moody's Analytics as its principal operating divisions.

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• 2000Moody's Investors Service spun off from Dun & Bradstreet

  Dun & Bradstreet completed the separation of Moody's Investors Service, creating the independently traded Moody's Corporation on the New York Stock Exchange.

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1. Moody's Corporation
2. Moody's official corporate website