Morningstar slams InvestorWeb claim
Morningstarhas rejected comments from InvestorWeb chief executive Otto Buttula that the purchase of research data from them by InvestorWeb makes up more than a third of Morningstar’s revenue or that plans by InvestorWeb to source their own data is in any way a danger to Morningstar.
Morningstar corporate affairs manager Christine Winter says the revenue figure mentioned by Buttula in the March 14 issue ofMoney Managementwas incorrect, and was actually within the range of single digits, but could not be disclosed due to commercial interests.
However, Winter admits the figure for business through InvestorWeb’s Visiplan software is higher, but stresses the relationships are with the individual users and not solely with InvestorWeb.
“The default research option in Visiplan is InvestorWeb but users can opt out and use Morningstar. As such, our contracts are with Visiplan users, not InvestorWeb in those cases. That has happened in many instances and provides a good revenue source for the group,” Winter says.
Despite the conflicting claims, Winter agrees with Buttula’s statement that the relationship between the two groups remains strong, emphasising that in the last 12-months, both groups had been working on ways to improve it.
“We have an open relationship with InvestorWeb. However, the possibility of not supplying base data would not cripple Morningstar, as we would never allow ourselves to become that vulnerable,” Winter says.
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Jason Spits
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