| | Monthly Investor Q&A | | We plan to make written responses available addressing investor questions about our business on the first Friday of every month. Our goal in establishing this policy is to allow all investors equal access to information about Morningstar's operations, strategy, and ongoing business plans. Please see below for the questions and answers we have provided so far, which are also available in Form 8-Ks furnished to the SEC.
To submit a question via email, click here 
To search previous question and answers, click here | | | | | 01 March 2013 | | Our answers on deferred revenue, operating margin, sales growth, clients in the variable annuity industry, and more. |
| |  | 132K | | |
| | 01 February 2013 | | Our answer about recent news related to a competitor in corporate credit ratings and research. |
| | | 101K | | |
| | 03 August 2012 | Our answers about a recently announced Morningstar® Advisor Workstation agreement and our former Chief Operating Officer's association with a new firm. |
| | | 111K | | |
| | 01 June 2012 | | Our answers on revised revenue for our top five products and total shares outstanding. |
| | | 118K | | |
| | 04 May 2012 | | Our answers about our first-quarter earnings release, employee compensation, headcount, structured credit ratings, and more. |
| | | 145K | | |
| | 03 February 2012 | | Our answer about the number of employees located at our Chicago headquarters. |
| | | 84K | | |
| | 06 January 2012 | | Our answers on customer health, expense management, revenue growth, and credit ratings. |
| | | 133K | | |
| | 04 November 2011 | | Our answers on sequential revenue growth, operating margin, the new Morningstar Analyst Rating™ for funds, and more. |
| | | 127K | | |
| | 07 October 2011 | | Our answers about the Morningstar Rating for funds, revenue by segment, and more. |
| | | 90K | | |
| | 05 August 2011 | | Our answer about participating in proxy votes for stock holdings that we own through our Select Stock Baskets or other stock portfolios. |
| | | 68K | | |
| | 03 June 2011 | | Our answer on the potential impact of proposed regulatory changes on our structured credit ratings business. |
| | | 84K | | |
| | 04 March 2011 | | Our answers on the most recent earnings release, Morningstar Direct, global organic revenue growth, and more. |
| | | 106K | | |
| | 04 February 2011 | | Our answers on recent management changes, taxes, competition, historical revenue, and more. |
| | | 103K | | |
| | 07 January 2011 | | Our answers on revenue composition, development expense, equity and credit research, and more. |
| | | 92K | | |
| | 03 December 2010 | | Our answers on Morningstar's strategy and capital allocation philosophy, recent changes in our Investment Management division, managment ownership in MORN, and more. |
| | | 155K | | |
| | 05 November 2010 | | Our answers on recent initiatives, our business model and key products, the new dividend and share repurchase programs, and more. |
| | | 162K | | |
| | 06 August 2010 | | Our answers on the Morningstar Rating for mutual funds, the sales environment, operating costs, and more. |
| | | 66K | | |
| | 02 July 2010 | | Our answers on Investment Consulting, managed retirement accounts, equity and credit research, Realpoint, and more. |
| | | 52K | | |
| | 07 May 2010 | | Our answers on Morningstar Advisor Workstation, the Old Broad Street Research acquisition, revenue from acquisitions, and more. |
| | | 32K | | |
| | 05 April 2010 | | Our answers on retirement advice, Realpoint, business trends, and more. |
| | | 424K | | |
| | 05 March 2010 | | Our answers on the fourth-quarter earnings release, stock-option issues, acquisitions, international operations, and more. |
| | | 98K | | |
| | 05 February 2010 | | Our answers on contracts up for renewal, the market size for financial advisors, analyst coverage on Morningstar, and more. |
| | | 26K | | |
| | 04 December 2009 | | Our answers on credit ratings, the business environment, trends in key products, and more. |
| | | 67K | | |
| | 06 November 2009 | | Our answers on our third-quarter financial results, capital allocation, Investment Consulting, credit ratings, and more. |
| | | 34K | | |
| | 02 October 2009 | | Our answer about Morningstar's level of interest in entering the credit ratings business. |
| | | 19K | | |
| | 04 September 2009 | | Our answers on historical quarterly results for our new operating segments, Morningstar Indexes, Morningstar Equity Research, and more. |
| | | 44K | | |
| | 07 August 2009 | | Our answers on new product initiatives, marketing strategy, industry consolidation, Investment Consulting and other products, our approach to capital management, and more. |
| | | 84K | | |
| | 06 July 2009 | | Our answers on Licensed Data, Investment Consulting, and the Intech acquisition. |
| | | 32K | | |
| | 05 June 2009 | | Our answers on business and revenue growth trends, XBRL, Investment Consulting, Equity Research, and more. |
| | | 39K | | |
| | 08 May 2009 | | Our answers on our first-quarter earnings release, Morningstar Equity Research, Investment Consulting, compensation and bonus expense, and more. |
| | | 102K | | |
| | 03 April 2009 | | Our answers on quarterly financials under our new segments, capital spending, Morningstar Equity Research, and more. |
| | | 33K | | |
| | 06 March 2009 | | Our answers on cost-savings measures for 2009, business trends in Investment Consulting, new product initiatives, and more. |
| | | 79K | | |
| | 06 February 2009 | | Our answers on international strategy, management ownership, the NewRiver litigation, and more. |
| | | 41K | | |
| | 02 January 2009 | | Our answers on recent acquisitions; acquisition strategy; proprietary content, data, tools, and functionality for major products; product pricing and fees; and more. |
| | | 92K | | |
| | 05 December 2008 | | Our answers on Morningstar's market sensitivity, balance sheet details, retirement advice, trends in Premium Memberships and ad sales outside the U.S., and more. |
| | | 51K | | |
| | 07 November 2008 | | Our answers on priorities for our cash balance, operating margin and cost structure, employee headcount, Investment Consulting, and more. |
| | | 72K | | |
| | 3 October 2008 | | Our response on the impact of the financial crisis on our Institutional segment. |
| | | 20K | | |
| | 5 September 2008 | | Our answers on the impact of the credit crisis, the Financial Computer Support acquisition, Investment Consulting, and more. |
| | | 48K | | |
| | 8 August 2008 | | Our answers about our operating margin, effective tax rate, investment consulting business, Morningstar Equity Research, and more. |
| | | 53K | | |
| | 7 July 2008 | | Our answers on mutual fund data outside the United States, Morningstar's dividend policy, and more. |
| | | 31K | | |
| | 6 June 2008 | | Our answers on capital spending, product pricing, revenue from fund companies, Investment Consulting, and more. |
| | | 102K | | |
| | 4 April 2008 | | Our answers on bonus expense, cash and investments, industry growth rates, and more. |
| | | 24K | | |
| | 7 March 2008 | | Our answers on market volatility, fourth-quarter product results, asset management and advisory businesses, Licensed Data, Morningstar Japan, and more. |
| | | 116K | | |
| | 1 February 2008 | | Our answers on asset growth in asset management, changes to the Discuss area on Morningstar.com, and more. |
| | | 30K | | |
| | 4 January 2008 | | Our answers on the Hemscott acquisition, market volatility, and credit ratings business.
|
| | | 50K | | |
| | 7 December 2007 | | Our answers about our third-quarter financial results, effective tax rate, market volatility, asset management and advisory business, and more.
|
| | | 71K | | |
| | 5 October 2007 | | Our answers on consulting and asset management, managed retirement accounts, cost flexibility, our joint venture in Japan, and more.
|
| | | 38K | | |
| | 7 September 2007 | | Our answers on technology investments, operating margin, capital spending, product trends in the second quarter, pricing for Advisor Workstation and Principia, and more. |
| | | 40K | | |
| | 3 August 2007 | | Our answers on market structure and consolidation in financial information, capital spending, barriers to entry, equity research, and more. |
| | | 60K | | |
| | 6 July 2007 | | Our answers about our new CFO, competition, accounts receivable, and more.
|
| | | 55K | | |
| | 1 June 2007 | | Our answers on management succession, acquisition strategy, Advisor segment revenue growth, revenue per user for Principia and Advisor Workstation, and more. |
| | | 30K | | |
| | 4 May 2007 | | Our answers on short interest in Morningstar, sales and marketing, revenue from advertising sales, and more. |
| | | 34K | | |
| | 6 April 2007 | | Our answers on fourth-quarter product results, Ibbotson Associates, hedge fund database plans, strategic partnerships, and more. |
| | | 85K | | |
| | 2 March 2007 | | Our answers about low trading volume in Morningstar's stock and the Standard's & Poor's fund data acquisition.
|
| | | 35K | | |
| | 2 February 2007 | | Our answers on Morningstar's sensitivity to the market and why we have a combined chairman and CEO. |
| | | 36K | | |
| | 5 January 2007 | | Our answers on market penetration and potential size, analyst coverage on Morningstar, acquisition criteria, and more.
|
| | | 108K | | |
| | 1 December 2006 | | Our answers on seasonality, operating margin, asset-based fees, Licensed Data, free cash flow, and more. |
| | | 71K | | |
| | 3 November 2006 | | Our answers on Morningstar's growth strategies, new legislation in the retirement market, our third-quarter earnings release, and more.
|
| | | 80K | | |
| | 6 October 2006 | | Our answers on product growth rates, quarterly revenue for Ibbotson, our investment management business, and more. |
| | | 64K | | |
| | 1 September 2006 | | Our answers about operating margins, incentive compensation, product pricing, and more.
|
| | | 93K | | |
| | 4 August 2006 | | Our response to a question about job moves for some former Ibbotson employees and other updates on our Ibbotson Associates subsidiary. |
| | | 30K | | |
| | 7 July 2006 | | Our answers on operating margins, the Ibbotson acquisition, international operations, fee-based revenue, hedge fund data, analyst research, insider transactions, and the Aspect Huntley acquisition. |
| | | 65K | | |
| | 2 June 2006 | | Our answers about the Ibbotson acquisition, operating margin expansion, market sizing in the institutional segment, and more.
|
| | | 76K | | |
| | 5 May 2006 | | Our answers on data acquisition costs, equity awards to board members, and more.
|
| | | 42K | | |
| | 7 April 2006 | | Our answers on Morningstar's change in auditors, institutional stock ownership, and first quarter earnings release date. |
| | | 29K | | |
| | 3 March 2006 | | Our answers on the Ibbotson Associates acquisition, growth potential in the advisor market, our effective tax rate, and more. |
| | | 49K | | |
| | 3 February 2006 | | Information on our sales and marketing strategy, Premium Membership pricing, and Sarbanes-Oxley costs.
|
| | | 38K | | |
| | 6 January 2006 | | An update on Morningstar's growth strategies, plus information on the Ibbotson acquisition, seasonality, and soft dollars.
|
| | | 54K | | |
| | 2 December 2005 | | Our answers on independent equity research, pricing for Principia and Advisor Workstation, our effective tax rate, and more. |
| | | 66K | | |
| | 4 November 2005 | | Our answers clarifying the lock-up period for restricted shares, plus quarterly revenue, operating income, and operating margin by segment. |
| | | 44K | | |
| | 7 October 2005 | | Our answers on Morningstar's mutual fund research, pending House and Senate pension reform bills, the lock-up period for restricted shares, and more. |
| | | 212K | | |
| | 2 September 2005 | | Our answers on product development plans, Morningstar's hedge fund database, independent equity research, dividend policy, and more. |
| | | 38K | | |
| | 5 August 2005 | | Our answers on the planned release date for our second quarter financial results, development plans for Mozilla's Firefox, and our policy on investor conference calls. |
| | | 30K | | |
| | 1 July 2005 | | Our answers on Morningstar's strategy and evolution, asset management and advisory businesses, print publications, Advisor Workstation, Principia, corporate governance, management, and more. |
| | | 83K | | |
| | 3 June 2005 | | Our answers on walk-in revenue, growth strategies for our three business segments, independent equity research, stock option expenses, taxes, Sarbanes-Oxley, and more.
|
| | | 123K |
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