Moody International Group history

By 1913 Moody extended his expertise from railroads to general financial ratings.

His ratings were sought out by investors and Moody responded with a new company, Moody's Investors Service, incorporated in July 1914.

Moody also wrote several books for Yale University Press, including The Masters of Capital: A Chronicle of Wall Street and The Railroad Builders: A Chronicle of the Welding of the States, both published in 1919 and reprinted several times.

1962: Moody's is bought by Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.

The company opened an office in United Arab Emirates, its first office in the Middle East, in 1986.

In 1999 the DOJ investigation into Moody's alleged antitrust violations was closed, and no charges were filed.

2000: Moody's Investors Service is spun off from Dun & Bradstreet and becomes a public company.

While this gave some ammunition to those who believed Moody's wielded too much power in the industry, the company finished the year with $602.3 million and then for its first complete year as a stand-alone company (2001) raked in $797 million in revenues and $212 million in net income.

By the end of 2003, Moody's Corporation had offices in 18 countries including Argentina, Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, and Taiwan; covered $30 trillion in debt from 100 countries; and brought in revenues of $1.25 billion and net income of $364 million.