S&P Global Inc. (prior to 2016, McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013, The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American
publicly traded corporation headquartered in
Manhattan, New York City
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...
. Its primary areas of business are financial information and analytics. It is the
parent company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...
of
S&P Global Ratings
S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is cons ...
, S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Global Mobility, S&P Global Sustainable1, and
S&P Global Commodity Insights
S&P Global Commodity Insights is a provider of energy and commodities information and a source of benchmark price assessments in the physical commodity markets. The business was started with the foundation in 1909 of the magazine ''National Petr ...
,
CRISIL
CRISIL Limited, formerly Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited, is an Indian analytical company providing ratings, research, and risk and policy advisory services and is a subsidiary of American company S&P Global
S&P Global ...
. It is also the majority owner of the
S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC is a joint venture between S&P Global and the CME Group, that was announced in 2011 and later launched in 2012. It produces, maintains, licenses, and markets stock market indices as benchmarks and as the basis of in ...
joint venture. "S&P" is a shortening of "Standard and Poor's".
Corporate history
The predecessor companies of S&P Global have histories dating to 1888, when
James H. McGraw purchased the ''American Journal of Railway Appliances''. He continued to add further publications, eventually establishing The ''McGraw Publishing Company'' in 1899.
John A. Hill had also produced several technical and trade publications and in 1902 formed his own business, The ''Hill Publishing Company''. In 1909, both men, having known each other's interests, agreed upon an alliance and combined the book departments of their publishing companies into The ''McGraw–Hill Book Company''. John Hill served as president, with James McGraw as vice-president. In 1917, the remaining parts of each business were merged into The ''McGraw–Hill Publishing Company''.
McGraw Hill founded Business Week magazine in 1929.
In 2009, McGraw Hill Cos. sold Business Week to Bloomberg L.P. In 1964, after Hill died, both ''McGraw–Hill Publishing Company'' and ''McGraw–Hill Book Company'' merged into ''McGraw–Hill, Inc.'' McGraw–Hill purchased
credit rating agency
A credit rating agency (CRA, also called a ratings service) is a company that assigns credit ratings, which rate a debtor's ability to pay back debt by making timely principal and interest payments and the likelihood of default. An agency may ra ...
Standard & Poor's
S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is co ...
from Paul Talbot Babson in 1966. In 1979, McGraw–Hill acquired
''Byte'' magazine from its owner/publisher
Virginia Williamson Virginia Williamson (also Virginia Londner Green and Virginia Peschke) was the co-founder, owner and publisher of ''Byte'' magazine. She founded the magazine in 1975 together with her ex-husband, Wayne Green the founder/publisher of the amateur rad ...
, who then became a vice-president of McGraw–Hill. In 1986, McGraw–Hill bought out competitor The Economy Company, then the United States' largest publisher of educational material. The buyout made McGraw–Hill the largest educational publisher in the United States.
In 1994, McGraw–Hill's broadcasting division signed a deal with ABC, due partly to the fact that its stations in San Diego (
KGTV
KGTV (channel 10) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Air Way in the Riverview-Webster section of San Diego, and its ...
) and Indianapolis (
WRTV
WRTV (channel 6) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Meridian Street (Indianapolis), Mer ...
) had already been aligned with the network, and that Denver (
KMGH-TV
KMGH-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sterling-licensed independent station KCDO-TV, channel 3 (and its Denver-based translator ...
) and Bakersfield (
KERO-TV
KERO-TV (channel 23) is a television station in Bakersfield, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on 21st Street in Downtown Bakersfield, and its transmitter ...
) joined the ABC family. (Bakersfield sister station KERO-TV was also involved in the deal between McGraw–Hill and ABC; however, that station had to wait for its affiliation contract with CBS to expire in March 1996, before it could finally switch to ABC). In 1995, McGraw–Hill, Inc. became The ''McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.'' as part of a corporate
rebranding
Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...
.
On October 3, 2011, McGraw–Hill announced it was selling its entire television station group to the
E. W. Scripps Company
The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...
for $212 million. The sale was completed on December 30, 2011. It had been involved in broadcasting since 1972, when it purchased four television stations from a division of
Time Inc.
Time Inc. (also referred to as Time & Life, Inc. later on, after their two onetime flagship magazine publications) was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New ...
The sale included McGraw–Hill Broadcasting's stations
KERO-TV
KERO-TV (channel 23) is a television station in Bakersfield, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on 21st Street in Downtown Bakersfield, and its transmitter ...
and
KZKC-LP Bakersfield
Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region.
Bakersfield's population as of the ...
;
KGTV
KGTV (channel 10) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Air Way in the Riverview-Webster section of San Diego, and its ...
and
KZSD-LP
KZSD-LD (channel 20) is a low-power television station in San Diego, California, United States. It is a translator of ABC affiliate KGTV (channel 10) which is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. KZSD-LD's transmitter is located on San Miguel ...
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
;
KZCS-LP Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...
; flagship station
KMGH-TV
KMGH-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sterling-licensed independent station KCDO-TV, channel 3 (and its Denver-based translator ...
and
KZCO-LD
KZCO-LD is a low-power television station in Denver, Colorado, United States. It rebroadcasts four secondary digital subchannels of ABC affiliate KMGH-TV (channel 7), including Ion Mystery on 7.3 and Laff on 7.4. Like KMGH-TV and KCDO-TV (chan ...
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
;
KZFC-LP Fort Collins
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...
; and
WRTV
WRTV (channel 6) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Meridian Street (Indianapolis), Mer ...
Indianapolis
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
. On November 26, 2012, McGraw–Hill announced it was selling its entire education division, known as ''
McGraw–Hill Education'' to
Apollo Global Management
Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. , the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capita ...
for $2.5 billion. On March 22, 2013, McGraw–Hill announced it had completed the sale for $2.4 billion cash. On May 1, 2013, shareholders of McGraw–Hill voted to change the company's name to ''McGraw Hill Financial''.
McGraw–Hill divested the subsidiary McGraw–Hill Construction to
Symphony Technology Group
STG Partners, LLC (STG) is an American private equity firm and based in Menlo Park, California. Its predecessor, Symphony Technology Group ("Symphony") was founded in 2002Dorbian, Iris (July 1, 2024) STG Rising: Hailing the Newcomer on the 100. ...
for US$320 million on September 22, 2014. The sale included
Engineering News-Record
The ''Engineering News-Record'' (widely known as ''ENR'') is an American weekly magazine that provides news, analysis, data and opinion for the construction industry worldwide. It is widely regarded as one of the construction industry's most au ...
,
Architectural Record
''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. Its editor in chief is Josephine Minutillo. ''The Record'', as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important ...
, Dodge and Sweet's. McGraw–Hill Construction has been renamed Dodge Data & Analytics.
In February 2016, McGraw–Hill announced that McGraw–Hill Financial would change its name to ''S&P Global Inc.'' by the end of April 2016. McGraw Hill Financial officially changed its name following a shareholder vote on April 27, 2016. In April 2016, McGraw–Hill announced that it was selling
J.D. Power and Associates
J.D. Power is an American data analytics, software, and consumer intelligence company founded in 1968. The company specializes in the use of big data, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic models examining consumer behavior. The firm's busine ...
to investment firm XIO Group for $1.1 billion. On August 3, 2020, S&P Global Platts launched S&P Global Platts Analytics fundamental oil information on the redesigned S&P Global Platts Developer Platform. The Platts Developer Platform offers customers with quick exposure to product price databases, business statistics and insights at the pace of market changes. In November 2020, S&P Global agreed to acquire
IHS Markit
Accuris is an information services provider.
History IHS
Information Handling Services (IHS) "was founded in 1959 as Information Handling Services to provide information for aerospace engineers through microfilm databases".
It subsequently gre ...
analytics company in a $44 billion transaction. In 2023, S&P sold the former IHS engineering operations to
KKR & Co
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private equity, private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 bil ...
, which rebranded IHS as
Accuris.
Corporate organization
S&P Global organizes its businesses in six units based on the market in which they are involved.
S&P Global Ratings
S&P Global Ratings provides independent investment research including ratings on various investment instruments.
S&P Global Market Intelligence
S&P Global Market Intelligence is a provider of multi-asset class and real-time data, research, news and analytics to
institutional investor
An institutional investor is an entity that pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked ...
s, investment and commercial banks, insurance companies, investment advisors and wealth managers, corporations, and universities. Subsidiaries and brands include Capital IQ,
EViews
EViews is a statistical package for Windows, used mainly for time-series oriented econometric analysis. It is developed by Quantitative Micro Software (QMS), now a part of IHS. Version 1.0 was released in March 1994, and replaced MicroTSP. T ...
, ''
Journal of Commerce
''Journal of Commerce'' is a biweekly magazine published in the United States that focuses on global trade topics. First published in 1827 in New York, it has a circulation of approximately 15,000. It provides editorial content to manage day-to ...
'',
Panjiva, and
Global Insight
Global Insight is an economics
Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics fo ...
.
S&P Dow Jones Indices
Launched on July 2, 2012,
S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC is a joint venture between S&P Global and the CME Group, that was announced in 2011 and later launched in 2012. It produces, maintains, licenses, and markets stock market indices as benchmarks and as the basis of in ...
is the world's largest global resource for index-based concepts, data, and research. It produces the
S&P 500
The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices and in ...
and the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.
The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity indice ...
.
S&P Dow Jones Indices calculates over 830,000 indices, publishes benchmarks that provide the basis for 575 ETFs globally with $387 billion in assets invested, and serves as the DNA for $1.5 trillion of the world's indexed assets.
S&P Global Commodity Insights
Headquartered in London,
S&P Global Commodity Insights
S&P Global Commodity Insights is a provider of energy and commodities information and a source of benchmark price assessments in the physical commodity markets. The business was started with the foundation in 1909 of the magazine ''National Petr ...
is a provider of information and a source of benchmark price assessments for the commodities, energy,
petrochemicals
Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable so ...
, metals, and agriculture markets. It has offices in more than 15 cities, including major energy centres such as London, Tokyo, Dubai, Singapore, and Houston, and international business centres such as
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
, Shanghai, and New York City.
S&P Global Mobility
Brands include
Carfax.
Presidents of the company
*
James H. McGraw (1917–1928)
* Johnathan Heflin (1928–1948)
* James McGraw Jr. (1948–1950)
* Curtis W. McGraw (1950–1953)
*
Donald C. McGraw (1953–1968)
* Shelton Fisher (1968–1974)
*
Harold McGraw Jr.
Harold Whittlesey McGraw Jr. (January 10, 1918 – March 24, 2010) was chief executive officer (CEO) of Mcgraw-Hill from 1975 to 1983. He was the eldest of two sons born to Harold Sr. & Louise (née Higgins) McGraw and grandson of McGraw-Hill’s c ...
(1974–1983)
* Joseph Dionne (1983–1998)
*
Harold W. McGraw III (1998–2013)
*
Douglas L. Peterson (2013–2024)
*
Martina Cheung (2024-present)
Acquisitions
During the course of its history, McGraw Hill and from 2016 S&P Global has expanded significantly through acquisition, not just within the publishing industry but also into other areas such as financial services (the purchase of
Standard & Poor's
S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is co ...
in 1966) and broadcasting (the 1972 acquisition of
Time-Life
Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and Direct marketing, direct ...
Broadcasting). The publishing and education assets are a part of
McGraw–Hill Education from the company separation in 2013.
This list only includes acquisitions made by McGraw–Hill, not its subsidiaries. McGraw–Hill typically does not release financial information regarding its acquisitions or divestitures.
Divestitures
After acquiring a portfolio of diverse companies, McGraw Hill later divested itself of many units to form McGraw Hill Financial which is now S&P Global.
This list only includes divestitures made by McGraw–Hill, not its subsidiaries.
McGraw–Hill Building

The company was based at
1221 Avenue of the Americas
1221 Avenue of the Americas (formerly also known as the McGraw-Hill Building) is an international-style skyscraper at 1221 Sixth Avenue (also known as the Avenue of the Americas) in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 51-floor structure has a ...
until July 2015.
The predecessor company McGraw Hill Inc. had been based at
330 West 42nd Street
330 West 42nd Street (also known as the McGraw-Hill Building and formerly as the GHI Building) is a , 33-story skyscraper in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Designed by Raymond Hood and J. André ...
and both have been known as ''The
McGraw–Hill Building'', a name originally used for a prior headquarters at 469 Tenth Avenue.
Connection to the family of George W. Bush
The McGraws and the
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
family have close ties dating back several generations. Harold McGraw Jr. (deceased) was a member of the national grant advisory and founding board of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.
McGraw–Hill Federal Credit Union
Established in 1935, the McGraw–Hill Federal Credit Union originally served employees of the McGraw–Hill companies in New York City only. The credit union moved from its location inside the McGraw–Hill building to
East Windsor,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, in 2005. Its accounts are insured by the
National Credit Union Administration
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is an American government-backed insurer of Credit unions in the United States, credit unions in the United States, one of two agencies that provide deposit insurance to depositors in U.S. deposi ...
. It provides savings, checking accounts,
CDs,
money-market accounts,
IRAs, credit cards, auto loans, and home mortgages. In February 2019, the credit union announced plans to merge with
Pentagon Federal Credit Union, completing to convert customers to those of PenFed on May 1, 2019. The East Windsor branch currently operates as a PenFed branch as of September 2019.
Awards
In 1999, the
National Building Museum
The National Building Museum is a museum of architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning in Northwest Washington, D.C., U.S. It was created by an act of Congress in 1980, and is a private non-profit institution. Located at ...
presented the McGraw–Hill Companies with its annual
Honor Award for the corporation's contributions to the
built environment
The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...
.
In 2023, S&P Global was recognized in Newsweek's ranking of America's Greenest Companies 2024 for its commitment to sustainability.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:SandP Global
Financial data vendors
Publicly traded companies based in New York City
Publishing companies established in 1917
Financial services companies established in 1917
1917 establishments in New York (state)
Financial services companies of the United States
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Financial technology companies