Morningstar Completes Acquisition of CRSP and Extends Relationship with Vanguard
The CRSP integration unites two trusted sources of market insight, reinforcing a shared commitment to transparency, quality, and investor-focused solutions and solidifying Morningstar's position as a top-tier global index provider.
Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN), a leading provider of independent investment insights, has completed its previously announced acquisition of the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP), a premier provider of historical stock market data and indexes, from the University of Chicago, for $365 million, subject to customary adjustments.
The acquisition of CRSP brings the CRSP Market Indexes, benchmarks for over $3 trillion in U.S. equities spanning market capitalizations, investment styles, and sectors, into the Morningstar Indexes family, making Morningstar the leading provider of broad US-equity benchmarks that cover the entire market and are the mainstay of retirement plans in the US. Long favored and popularized by the late Jack Bogle for their comprehensive coverage of the "total market," their unique methodology has been shown to lower transaction costs for investors.
The CRSP indexes will be rebranded under the Morningstar name. Additionally, the CRSP Research Data Products, known for their research quality, academic rigor, historical depth and accuracy, further strengthen Morningstar's research and data capabilities for a wider set of clients and markets.
Morningstar also announced today an agreement with Vanguard that confirms the continued use of CRSP indexes to underpin a range of Vanguard funds, including the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSAX and VTI), and Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund (VIMAX and VO).
"The addition of CRSP furthers our efforts to disrupt the costly, entrenched index industry with indexes that deliver more value at global scale to benefit investors. With over $4.2 trillion in assets linked, including over 370 investment products, Morningstar offers a better alternative to legacy index providers," said Amelia Furr, president of Morningstar Indexes. "By working together with Vanguard, Morningstar Indexes will continue to serve as the foundation for some of the world's largest funds and advance low-cost investing for millions of investors."
"For nearly 50 years, Vanguard has been at the forefront of index investing," said Rodney Comegys, CIO of Vanguard Capital Management and head of global equity at Vanguard. "Our agreement with Morningstar reinforces our steadfast commitment to delivering low costs, broad diversification and strong performance for investors. The academically rigorous methodology of the CRSP indexes provides a world-class foundation for long-term success, empowering clients to pursue their investment goals with confidence."
About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers and owners, retirement plan providers and sponsors, institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets, and alliances and redistributors. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $369 billion in AUMA as of Sept. 30, 2025. The Company operates through wholly-owned subsidiaries in 32 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on LinkedIn @Morningstar.
About Morningstar Indexes
Morningstar Indexes was built to keep up with the evolving needs of investors—and to be a leading-edge advocate for them. Morningstar's rich heritage as a transparent, investor-focused leader in data and research uniquely equips Morningstar Indexes to support individuals, institutions, wealth managers and advisors in navigating investment opportunities across all major asset classes, styles, and strategies. In February 2026, the acquisition of CRSP brought the CRSP Market Indexes – benchmarks for over $3 trillion in US equities – into the Morningstar Indexes family. Additionally, CRSP's Research Data Products, renowned for their academic rigor, historical depth and accuracy, further enhances Morningstar's equity benchmark and data capabilities. This powerful combination unites two trusted sources of market insight, reinforcing a shared commitment to transparency, quality and investor-focused solutions. Please visit indexes.morningstar.com for more information.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations about future events or future financial performance. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain, and often contain words such as "will," "aim," "committed," "consider," "estimate," "future," "goal," "is designed to," "maintain," "may," "might," "objective," "ongoing," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "possible," "potential," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," "prospects," "continue," "strategy," "strive," "will," "would," "determine," "evaluate," or the negative thereof, and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the events we discuss not to occur or to differ significantly from what we expect. For us, these risks and uncertainties include, among others, failing to achieve the anticipated benefits of the CRSP acquisition, including the Vanguard agreement, failing to maintain and protect our brand, independence, and reputation; failure to prevent and/or mitigate cybersecurity events and the failure to protect confidential information, including personal information about individuals; compliance failures, regulatory action, or changes in laws applicable to our regulated businesses; failing to innovate our product and service offerings or meet or anticipate our clients' changing needs; impact of artificial intelligence technologies on our business and reputation, and the legal risks as they are incorporated into our products and tools; failing to detect errors in our products or the failure of our products to perform properly due to defects, malfunctions or similar problems; failing to recruit, develop, and retain qualified employees; prolonged volatility or downturns affecting the financial sector, global financial markets, and the global economy and the effect on our revenue from asset-based fees and our credit ratings business; failing to scale our operations, increase productivity in order to implement our business plans and strategies; liability for any losses that result from errors in our automated advisory tools or errors in the use of the information and data we collect; inadequacy of our operational risk management and business continuity programs to address materially disruptive events; failure of our strategic transactions, acquisitions, divestitures and investments in companies or technologies to yield expected business or financial benefits, negatively impacting our operating results and our ability to deliver long-term value to shareholders; failing to maintain growth across our businesses due to changes in geopolitics and the regulatory landscape; liability relating to the information and data we collect, store, use, create, and distribute or the reports that we publish or are produced by our software products; the potential adverse effect of our indebtedness on our cash flow and financial and operational flexibility; liability, costs and reputational risks relating to environmental, social and governance considerations; our dependence on third-party service providers in our operations; inadequacy of our insurance coverage; challenges in accounting for tax complexities in the global jurisdictions which we operate in and their effect on our tax obligations and tax rates; the potential and impact of vendor consolidation and clients' strategic decisions to replace our products and services with in-house products and services; our ability to build and maintain short-term and long-term shareholder value and pay dividends to our shareholders; our ability to maintain existing business and renewal rates and to gain new business; the impact of recently issued accounting pronouncements on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosure; impact on our stock price due to future sales of our common stock and fluctuations in our operating results; and failing to protect our intellectual property rights or claims of intellectual property infringement against us.
A more complete description of these risks and uncertainties, among others, can be found in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results and other future events may vary significantly from what we expect. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. You are, however, advised to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects, and about new or additional risks, uncertainties and assumptions in our future filings with the SEC on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K.
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Tim Benedict, +1 203 339-1912, [email protected]
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