Motley Fool
Encyclopedia
The Motley Fool is a multimedia financial-services company that provides financial solutions for investors through various stock
, investing
, and personal finance
products. The Alexandria, Virginia
-based private company was founded in July 1993 by co-chairmen and brothers David
and Tom Gardner
, and Erik Rydholm, who has since left. The company employs approximately 200 people.
The Motley Fool offers a wide range of stock news and analysis at its free website, Fool.com, as well as through a variety of paid investment advice services. The services, many of which combine a traditional paper newsletter with interactive electronic discussion boards and other tools, cover a range of styles from small caps to international stocks to options to shorting.
Mutual Funds
In June 2009, Motley Fool Funds launched its first mutual fund, Motley Fool Independence Fund.
In November 2010, Motley Fool funds launched Motley Fool Great America Fund.
.
In August 1994, brothers David and Tom Gardner parlayed their 1-year-old investment newsletter into a content partnership with America Online. The Motley Fool gained renown for its early recommendations of stocks, such as America Online (AOL) and Amazon.com, and was featured in a cover story for Fortune magazine (1996) about the emergence of online interactive discussion as a new form of investment research. In April 1997, the "Fools," as the site's enthusiasts refer to themselves, migrated their home page off AOL and onto the Fool.com website and established a site in the UK, fool.co.uk.
Motley Fool content is available to the public on Fool.com, in its Motley Fool Money podcast, and nationally syndicated newspaper column. The Gardners have written several bestselling books on investing, most recently New York Times bestseller Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio, published in December 2008. The best-known of these is The Motley Fool Investment Guide, which in 2003 was called the "#1 All-Time Classic" by investment club members of the NAIC.
When the plentiful financing dried up and the Dot-com bubble collapsed in 2001, the company, in common with its peers, ran into trouble, resulting in the loss of 80% of the staff in a series of three layoffs and the closure of its nascent operations in Germany and Japan. Following the 2000–2002 downturn of the stock market and the Internet, The Motley Fool started to offer more services, such as a range of investment styles from small-cap stock investing to growth and technology stocks to dividend investing.
A December 2005 Washington Post article detailed the Motley Fool's 10-year lease for new offices in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, taking over office space vacated by Time-Life.
In September 2006, the company unveiled its newest offering—Motley Fool CAPS—a service which monitors and ranks the most successful stock pickers amongst its members.
In April 2002, the company launched the first of its premium subscription services. David and Tom Gardner pick one stock each month in a brotherly competition to best each other and the S&P 500. According to Mark Hulbert of The Hulbert Financial Digest, for the past five years the brothers have earned an average return of 22%, annualized, versus a comparable return of 7% for the Wilshire 5000. They maintain a consistent buy-and-hold style, tending to let their winning stocks compound returns over longer periods of time.
Others:
for the purpose of helping people make better financial decisions. Registered users can get access to all non-newsletter boards that cover a variety of stock, personal finance, and investing concepts. The discussion boards are used heavily to recruit future Motley Fool staffers, with frequent posters first awarded free subscriptions to their favorite newsletters, to eventually receiving a small stipend and "TMF" username moniker to patrol the boards. Some veteran posters have gone on to found investment newsletters and hedge funds of their own.
investment theory. The theory had been constituted squarely on the shoulders of the Dogs of the Dow
analysis popular at the time. In the same year, Motley Fool writer Ann Coleman admitted that the Foolish Four method "turned out to be not nearly as wonderful a strategy as we thought."
Stock
The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...
, investing
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...
, and personal finance
Personal finance
Personal finance is the application of the principles of finance to the monetary decisions of an individual or family unit. It addresses the ways in which individuals or families obtain, budget, save, and spend monetary resources over time, taking into account various financial risks and future...
products. The Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
-based private company was founded in July 1993 by co-chairmen and brothers David
David Gardner
David Gardner is one of the three founders of The Motley Fool, established in 1993.He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a Morehead-Cain Scholarship, graduating in 1988. He was a writer for Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street newsletter before joining the Motley Fool...
and Tom Gardner
Tom Gardner
Tom Gardner is one of the three founders of The Motley Fool. He is currently CEO of The Motley Fool.He is the author of The Motley Fool Hidden Gems newsletter, which aims to find the most promising small public companies for investment...
, and Erik Rydholm, who has since left. The company employs approximately 200 people.
The Business
Investment AdviceThe Motley Fool offers a wide range of stock news and analysis at its free website, Fool.com, as well as through a variety of paid investment advice services. The services, many of which combine a traditional paper newsletter with interactive electronic discussion boards and other tools, cover a range of styles from small caps to international stocks to options to shorting.
Mutual Funds
In June 2009, Motley Fool Funds launched its first mutual fund, Motley Fool Independence Fund.
In November 2010, Motley Fool funds launched Motley Fool Great America Fund.
History
The name "Motley Fool" is taken from Shakespeare's comedy As You Like ItAs You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
.
In August 1994, brothers David and Tom Gardner parlayed their 1-year-old investment newsletter into a content partnership with America Online. The Motley Fool gained renown for its early recommendations of stocks, such as America Online (AOL) and Amazon.com, and was featured in a cover story for Fortune magazine (1996) about the emergence of online interactive discussion as a new form of investment research. In April 1997, the "Fools," as the site's enthusiasts refer to themselves, migrated their home page off AOL and onto the Fool.com website and established a site in the UK, fool.co.uk.
Motley Fool content is available to the public on Fool.com, in its Motley Fool Money podcast, and nationally syndicated newspaper column. The Gardners have written several bestselling books on investing, most recently New York Times bestseller Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio, published in December 2008. The best-known of these is The Motley Fool Investment Guide, which in 2003 was called the "#1 All-Time Classic" by investment club members of the NAIC.
When the plentiful financing dried up and the Dot-com bubble collapsed in 2001, the company, in common with its peers, ran into trouble, resulting in the loss of 80% of the staff in a series of three layoffs and the closure of its nascent operations in Germany and Japan. Following the 2000–2002 downturn of the stock market and the Internet, The Motley Fool started to offer more services, such as a range of investment styles from small-cap stock investing to growth and technology stocks to dividend investing.
A December 2005 Washington Post article detailed the Motley Fool's 10-year lease for new offices in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, taking over office space vacated by Time-Life.
In September 2006, the company unveiled its newest offering—Motley Fool CAPS—a service which monitors and ranks the most successful stock pickers amongst its members.
Premium services
Motley Fool Stock AdvisorIn April 2002, the company launched the first of its premium subscription services. David and Tom Gardner pick one stock each month in a brotherly competition to best each other and the S&P 500. According to Mark Hulbert of The Hulbert Financial Digest, for the past five years the brothers have earned an average return of 22%, annualized, versus a comparable return of 7% for the Wilshire 5000. They maintain a consistent buy-and-hold style, tending to let their winning stocks compound returns over longer periods of time.
Others:
- Motley Fool PRO
- Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio
- Motley Fool Rule Breakers
- Motley Fool Options
- Motley Fool Alpha
- Motley Fool BIG Short
- Motley Fool Special Ops
- Motley Fool Inside Value
- Motley Fool Global Gains
- Motley Fool Income Investor
- Motley Fool Hidden Gems
- Motley Fool Rule Your Retirement
Community discussion boards
The Motley Fool hosts on-line discussion boardsInternet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
for the purpose of helping people make better financial decisions. Registered users can get access to all non-newsletter boards that cover a variety of stock, personal finance, and investing concepts. The discussion boards are used heavily to recruit future Motley Fool staffers, with frequent posters first awarded free subscriptions to their favorite newsletters, to eventually receiving a small stipend and "TMF" username moniker to patrol the boards. Some veteran posters have gone on to found investment newsletters and hedge funds of their own.
The Foolish Four
In 2000, the Motley Fool ran into controversy with its eventually discredited Foolish FourFoolish Four
The "Foolish Four" is a discredited mechanical investing technique that, like the Dogs of the Dow, attempts to select the member stocks of the Dow Jones Industrial Average that will outperform the average in the near future....
investment theory. The theory had been constituted squarely on the shoulders of the Dogs of the Dow
The Dogs of the Dow
The Dogs of the Dow is an investment strategy popularized by Michael B. O'Higgins, in 1991 which proposes that an investor annually select for investment the ten Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks whose dividend is the highest fraction of their price....
analysis popular at the time. In the same year, Motley Fool writer Ann Coleman admitted that the Foolish Four method "turned out to be not nearly as wonderful a strategy as we thought."