UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
______________________________
FORM 8-K
______________________________
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): February 26, 2025
MORNINGSTAR, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
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| Illinois (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) | 000-51280 (Commission File Number)
| 36-3297908 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
| | 22 West Washington Street Chicago, Illinois (Address of principal executive offices) |
60602 (Zip Code) |
| | (312) 696-6000 (Registrant’s telephone number, including area code) | |
|
N/A | | |
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report) __________________________________
| |
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
o Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
o Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).
Emerging growth company ¨
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: | | | | | | | | |
| Title of Each Class | Trading Symbol | Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered |
| Common stock, no par value | MORN | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |
Item 2.02. Results of Operations and Financial Condition.
On February 26, 2025, Morningstar, Inc. (the "Company" or "we") issued a press release announcing its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2024 (the "Earnings Release"). A copy of the Earnings Release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and incorporated herein by reference. Additionally, on February 26, 2025, the Company published a Supplemental Presentation. A copy of the Supplemental Presentation is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.2 and incorporated herein by reference. The Earnings Release and Supplemental Presentation shall each be deemed furnished, not filed, for purposes of this Current Report on Form 8-K (this "Report").
Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.
On February 26, 2025, the Company published a Shareholder Letter. The Shareholder Letter is included as Exhibit 99.3 to this Report and incorporated herein by reference. The Shareholder Letter shall be deemed furnished, not filed, for purposes of this Report.
The information set forth under Item 2.02, "Results of Operations and Financial Condition" is incorporated herein by reference.
Information or documents on the Company's website referred to in this Report or in the exhibits to this Report are not incorporated by reference into this Report.
Cautionary Note Regarding 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 "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 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.
Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits:
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| Exhibit No. | | Description |
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| 104 | | The cover page from this Current Report on Form 8-K formatted in Inline XBRL (included as Exhibit 101). |
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
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| | MORNINGSTAR, INC. |
| Date: February 26, 2025 | | By:/s/ Michael Holt |
| | Name: Michael Holt |
| | Title: Chief Financial Officer |
