BusinessWeek's Company Insight Center

A recent issue of BusinessWeek magazine hypes their new Company Insight Center.  I don't recall the article saying it was only in beta, but that's apparently the case.  It sounded like a great resource where you could get all the information you need for public and private companies...

Just for fun, I decided to look up my employer, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  The most logical entry in the search results for "Wiley" is this one, entitled "Wiley Publishing Inc."  I chuckled when I saw the page it links to as it lists the executives who headed up the old Hungry Minds, Inc., organization, which Wiley acquired in 2001.  None of those people are part of the Wiley organization and haven't been for at least the last 5 years!  I guess I won't spend much time using this site for any serious research...at least not until they get this entry fixed and move beyond the beta stage.

Comments

[Reagan Brown]

Hi, Joe,

many thanks for your feedback. you'll be glad to know that the product is most definitely still in beta. in fact, comments such as these demonstrate why the product is still in beta: it gives us time to tap into the wisdom of the web(which is both a rewarding and terrifying notion), follow our users and iterate.

And you'll be glad to know that we have a more accurate profile of your employer buried in our database. Next time, search for John Wiley under the public company tab (or enter the class a or class b ticker directly into the search box) and you'll be directed to the following profile instead:

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?symbol=JWa

I'm guessing that the private company profile you discovered is stale and a vestige of the rapid consolidation in the publishing industry.

Please do give our site a second chance. Compiling and organizing data on hundreds of thousands of companies and millions of executives from over 50 exchanges around the world is no small feat. The product, while great, isn't perfect and we will continue to rely on comments (such as yours) to improve going forward.

Regards,
Reagan
Director, Business Development
BusinessWeek Digital