William Joseph O'Neil (March 25, 1933 – May 28, 2023) was an American businessman, stockbroker, and writer. He founded the stock brokerage firm William O'Neil & Co. Inc in 1963 and the financial newspaper ''

Investor's Business Daily ''Investor's Business Daily'' (''IBD'') is an American newspaper and website covering the stock market, international business, finance, and economics. Founded in 1984 by William O'Neil as a print newspaper, it is owned by News Corp and headquar ...

'' in 1984. O'Neil was the author of books like ''How to Make Money in Stocks'', ''24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success'', and ''The Successful Investor'', and created the

CAN SLIM CAN SLIM is an acronym developed by the American investor William O'Neil, intended to represent the seven characteristics that top-performing stocks often share before making their biggest price gains. The method was named the top-performing inve ...

investment strategy.

Early life and education

William Joseph O'Neil was born on March 25, 1933, in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. When he was 14, he moved to

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, where he later graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. He studied business at

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

, received a bachelor's degree in 1955 and served in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

Career

Early career

In 1958, O'Neil started his career as a stockbroker at Hayden, Stone & Company, and developed an investment strategy which made early use of

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ('' computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', ...

. In 1960, he was accepted to

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

's first Program for Management Development (PMD). From his research, O'Neil invented the

strategy and became the top-performing broker in his firm. He bought a seat on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

at age 30 and became the youngest at that time ever to do so. In 1963, he founded William O'Neil + Co. Inc., a company which developed the first computerized daily securities database and sold its research to institutional investors and tracks over 70,000 companies worldwide. Daily Graphs was launched by William O'Neil to produce Daily Graphs, a printed book of stock charts delivered weekly to subscribers in 1972. In 1998, O'Neil launched Daily Graphs Online as a comprehensive online equity research tool and an extension of the Daily Graphs business he launched in 1972. In 2010, Daily Graphs Inc. and its service was re-branded as MarketSmith. In 1973, he founded "O'Neil Data Systems, Inc.", to provide high-speed printing and database-publishing facilities. The company now operates as O'Neil Digital Solutions and has operations in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Monroe, North Carolina Monroe is a city in and the county seat of Union County, North Carolina, United States. The population increased from 32,797 in 2010 United States census, 2010 to 34,551 in 2020 United States census, 2020. It is within the rapidly growing Charlot ...

. The firm provides data-driven publishing and marketing communications.

''Investor's Business Daily''

In 1984, O'Neil made research from his database available in print form with the launch of ''Investor's Daily'', a national business newspaper aimed to compete with ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. In 1991, the publication's name was changed from ''Investor's Daily'' to ''

''. As of 2015, the newspaper had a circulation of 113,000 and its website attracted 2.9 million visitors a month. In 2016, the newspaper changed its printing schedule to weekly, but continued to publish news daily on its website. In 2021 News Corp. bought ''Investor’s'' for $275 Million.

Personal life

O'Neil was married and had four children. He stated in a 2002 interview that one of the books which was an early influence on him was

Gerald Loeb Gerald Martin Loeb (July 24, 1899 – April 13, 1974) was a founding partner of E.F. Hutton & Co., a renowned Wall Street trading and brokerage firm. He was the author of the books ''The Battle For Investment Survival'' and ''The Battle For Stock ...

's ''The Battle for Investment Survival.'' According to O'Neil, this is the best book on the market. Other investors he studied were

Bernard Baruch Bernard Mannes Baruch (August 19, 1870 – June 20, 1965) was an American financier and statesman. After amassing a fortune on the New York Stock Exchange, he impressed President Woodrow Wilson by managing the nation's economic mobilization in W ...

Jesse Livermore Jesse Lauriston Livermore (July 26, 1877 – November 28, 1940) was an American stock trader. He is considered a pioneer of day trading and was the basis for the main character of ''Reminiscences of a Stock Operator'', a best-selling book by Edw ...

Jack Dreyfus John J. Dreyfus Jr. (August 28, 1913 – March 27, 2009) was an American financial expert and the founder of the Dreyfus Funds. Biography Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Dreyfus was a graduate of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. He is widely ...

, and

Nicolas Darvas Nicolas Darvas (1920–1977) was a Hungarian dancer, self-taught investor, and author. He is best known for his book, "How I Made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market." Career Dancer Hungarian by birth, Darvas trained as an economist at the Univer ...

. He also admired

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

. In 2007, O'Neil started donating to his alma mater, Southern Methodist University and funded a chair in business journalism at SMU's

Meadows School of the Arts The Algur H. Meadows School of the Arts is the fine arts unit at Southern Methodist University, located in University Park, Texas, U.S. It is known for its programs in advertising, art, art history, arts administration, cinema, performing arts, jou ...

. He then endowed a professorship in markets and freedom and created the William J. O'Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom at the university's

Cox School of Business The Edwin L. Cox School of Business is an American business school that is part of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. The SMU Cox School of Business is headquartered in four buildings on SMU's 210-acre main campus five miles ...

. O'Neil died on May 28, 2023, at age 90. After his death, ''Investor’s'' released a special tribute to O’Neil’s “inspirational life.”

Bibliography

* ''The Model Book of Greatest Stock Market Winners'' (1971) * ''24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success, learn the most Important Investment Techniques from the Founder of Investor's Business Daily'', McGraw-Hill (2000), * ''The Successful Investor: What 80 Million People Need to Know to Invest Profitably and Avoid Big Losses'', 2003, McGraw-Hill, * ''Sports Leaders & Success : 55 Top Sports Leaders & How They Achieved Greatness'' by Investor's Business Daily (author), William J. O'Neil (introduction) (1st edition, June 1, 2004) * ''Military and Political Leaders & Success : 55 Top Military and Political Leaders & How They Achieved Greatness'', by Investor's Business Daily (author), William J. O'Neil (Introduction) (1st edition, September 1, 2004) * ''How to Make Money Selling Stocks Short'', co-author with Gil Morales, Wiley (December 24, 2004), * ''Business Leaders and Success, 55 Top Business Leaders and How They Achieved Greatness'', 2004, McGraw-Hill * ''How to Make Money in Stocks: Desk Diary 2005'', Wiley; Spiral edition (September 6, 2004), * ''

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator ''Reminiscences of a Stock Operator'' is a 1923 roman à clef by American author Edwin Lefèvre. It is told in the first person by a character, in the book called Larry Livingston, inspired by the life of stock trader Jesse Livermore up to that p ...

'' (by

Edwin Lefèvre Edwin Lefèvre (1871–1943) was an American journalist, writer, and diplomat, who is most noted for his writings on Wall Street business. Biography Lefèvre was born George Edwin Henry Lefèvre on January 23, 1871 in Colón, Panama, Colón, ...

), William J. O'Neil (Foreword), Wiley; Illustrate edition (September 2004), * ''How to Make Money in Stocks – A Winning System in Good Times Or Bad'', McGraw-Hill, (4th ed., May 18, 2009) *''The How to Make Money in Stocks Complete Investing System: Your Ultimate Guide to Winning in Good Times and Bad'' by William J O'Neil (Paperback August 10, 2010)

References

External links

Official website

William O'Neil Company Profile

Los Angeles Business Journal interview
March 18, 2002

Investors Business Daily, June 10, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Oneil, William 1933 births 2023 deaths American finance and investment writers American financial businesspeople American investors American money managers American newspaper publishers (people) American stockbrokers American stock traders Harvard Business School alumni Businesspeople from Oklahoma City Stock and commodity market managers Southern Methodist University alumni United States Air Force officers Writers from Texas Writers from Oklahoma City Writers from Oklahoma Businesspeople from Texas Businesspeople from Oklahoma Place of death missing Woodrow Wilson High School (Dallas) alumni