Fact Finding: Locating & Researching Persons, Companies, and Property: Free Sites

The amount of information available for a particular company depends on a number of factors. Information is more widely available for public companies (those traded on a stock exchange) as these business entities must file detailed reports about their operations to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Generally, the larger the company then the more information will be available for it including financial statements, employment and market share numbers and other more specialized information. Locating information about privately held companies can be much more difficult, especially for very small companies or closely held business entities that may be operated by a sole proprietor or a small number of owners/employees. For some of the smallest companies, you may not be able to locate much more than directory/contact information and the name and contact information for the owner or principal officer. 
 

Information about public companies is much more likely to be available from free web resources while private company information (other than basic directory information from the Secretary of State) will usually be found only in proprietary paid databases. The resources on this page are broken down by type of information sought and notes are made on those resources that offer at least some coverage of privately held businesses.