This page lists the sources we rely on for ownership research, why we trust them, and what kinds of sources we explicitly do not use.
Tier 1 — primary documents (always cite first)
US-listed companies
- SEC EDGAR — 10-K, 10-Q, DEF 14A (proxy), 13D, 13G, Form 4, S-1, 8-K
- Company’s own investor-relations page (annual report PDFs, press releases)
International listings
- SEDAR+ (Canada)
- UK Companies House
- India Ministry of Corporate Affairs
- HKEX (Hong Kong)
- JPX (Japan)
- ASX (Australia)
Antitrust & legal records
- US DOJ Antitrust Division — case archives
- FTC — merger reviews and consent decrees
- Federal court records (PACER) for ownership disclosed in litigation
Tier 2 — independent journalism (verification & context)
For private companies, family trusts, complex holding structures, and ownership context that primary documents do not reveal, we triangulate across these publications. None of them is owned by, affiliated with, or sponsored by WhoIsTheOwnerOf.
General financial press
- Bloomberg
- Reuters
- The Wall Street Journal
- Financial Times
- Forbes
- Barron’s
- The Economist
- Fortune
- MarketWatch
Sector-specific outlets
- Sports — Sportico, ESPN, The Athletic
- Tech — TechCrunch, The Information, The Verge, Wired
- Media & entertainment — Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline
- Aviation — Reuters Aerospace, IATA publications, FlightGlobal
- Auto — Automotive News, InsideEVs, Reuters Autos
- Food & restaurants — Restaurant Business, Nation’s Restaurant News, Food Dive
Major-network news
- Associated Press (AP)
- BBC News (Business)
- NPR Business
- CNBC
- The Guardian (Business)
- The New York Times (Business)
- The Washington Post (Business)
Tier 3 — reference databases (cross-checks only)
- Crunchbase (private company funding data)
- PitchBook (used as cross-check, paywalled details not republished)
- Forbes Real-Time Billionaires (net-worth context)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica (corporate history dates)
What we do not cite
- Other “who owns” sites or aggregators
- Wikipedia as a primary source (we may use it to find a primary source, but we cite the primary source itself)
- Personal blogs, forums (Reddit, Quora), or social-media speculation
- Press releases from PR distribution wires for unverified claims
- Sponsored content on financial publications
- Unattributed claims of any kind
Suggest a source we should add
If you are a researcher who knows of a public dataset, regulator, or publication we should add to this list, email editorial@whoistheownerof.com.
Sources Policy version 1.0 · Effective April 26, 2026 · See also Methodology and Editorial Policy.