Who founded The Motley Fool and when was it founded?
The Motley Fool was founded in July 1993 by brothers David Gardner and Tom Gardner, along with Todd Etter and Erik Rydholm. The company is based in Alexandria, Virginia.
Questions about The Motley Fool
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Where does The Motley Fool get its name?
The name comes from Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It. It references the court jester, the one character who could speak truth to the Duke without being punished.
What was The Motley Fool's April Fool's hoax in 1994?
In 1994, The Motley Fool published online messages promoting a fictitious sewage-disposal company as a joke intended to teach investors about penny stock fraud. The stunt attracted coverage in The Wall Street Journal.
What was the Foolish Four method and why did it fail?
The Foolish Four was a stock-picking system adapted from the Dogs of the Dow strategy, selecting Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks by high dividend yield. Journalist Jason Zweig criticized the method's exaggerated claims in 1999, and by 2000 a Motley Fool writer admitted the strategy had not performed as promised.
How did The Motley Fool influence SEC Regulation Fair Disclosure?
In December 1999, Motley Fool author Bill Barker urged readers to submit comments to the SEC in support of proposed Regulation Fair Disclosure. Former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt later stated in The Wall Street Journal on the 2nd of July 2001 that two-thirds of the letters supporting the rule came from Motley Fool readers.
What countries does The Motley Fool operate in?
As of 2023, The Motley Fool has operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. The company previously operated in Singapore and Hong Kong but closed both in October 2019 and October 2020 respectively.