| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Publisher | William J. O'Neil |
| Founded | 1984 (as Investor's Daily) |
| Headquarters | 12655 Beatrice Street Los Angeles, CA 90066 United States |
| Circulation | 210,708 (2006)[1] |
| Official website | investors.com |
Investor's Business Daily (IBD) is a national newspaper in the United States, published Monday through Friday, that covers international business, finance, and the global economy. Founded in 1984 by William O'Neil, its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California.
IBD provides detailed information about stocks, mutual funds, commodities, and other financial instruments aimed at individual investors. The newspaper provides detailed, concise statistics using earnings, stock price performance, and other criteria to help investors find quality stocks. Detailed index and stock charts are present throughout. The stock and mutual fund information is designed to be used along with the founder William O'Neil's book How to Make Money in Stocks. O'Neil developed CAN SLIM which claims to be a checklist of the characteristics performing stocks tend to share before their biggest gains.[1][2]
O'Neil founded the newspaper in 1984 to "offer information not available in The Wall Street Journal and other publications" for "investors and business executives who did not have time for two and three section papers each day."[3] It also provided investor education through its Investor's Corner, the Big Picture, and online resources. The information provided expands on William O'Neil's previous books. IBD includes several written sections that detail companies and news of interest. The New America and Internet & Technology sections highlight companies that may be desirable for the newspaper's readers. The newspaper's opinions and analysis of global and national events are highlighted in the Editorials and Opinion section.
In 1991, the publication's name was changed from Investor's Daily to Investor's Business Daily. Ten years after founding, it had a paid circulation of 149,557, with a claimed "total readership" of 850,000 (also phrased as "nearly 1,000,000 readers"), though in 2002, the Los Angeles Business Journal said that it has not been a moneymaker, and had had a decline in ad spending, though other O'Neil companies had done well.
Investors Business Daily also carries editorials and columns on topics from "economics and government to politics and culture".[4] It carries columns from writers "On The Left and On The Right",[5] including L. Brent Bozell, Richard Cohen, E. J. Dionne, Victor Davis Hanson, Charles Krauthammer, and Thomas Sowell. Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Michael Ramirez has worked for IBD since late 2005. Investors Business Daily also publishes editorials skeptical of peak oil and global warming, often proposing alternate solutions. The Times characterized IBD as a "right-wing newspaper".[6]
On July 31, 2009, an editorial at IBD, criticizing Barack Obama's healthcare plans, claimed that Stephen Hawking "wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless."[7] As Hawking was born and has always lived in the United Kingdom, and receives his medical care from the British National Health Service, the editorial was widely criticized for its inaccuracy.[6][8][9] The online version of the editorial was later corrected to remove and apologize for the implication Stephen Hawking didn't live in the UK, but did not apologize for implying the NHS would judge Stephen Hawking's life as 'worthless'[10] but IBD continued to defend the original editorial, calling the mention of Hawking a "bad example" and accusing those that mentioned their error of "chang[ing] the subject."[11] Hawking responded to the editorial by saying: "I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS... I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived."[12]