Motley Fool
Headquarters:
2000 Duke Street, 4th Floor
Alexandria, VA 22314
Employees: 200+
CEO: Tom Gardner
Privately held
Website:
http://www.fool.com
Career Site
Motley Fool operates one of the leading
personal finance and stock investing communities on the Internet
offering articles on stocks, investing and analysis along with
member forums. The site is known for its quirky founders Tom
and David Gardner and the site's employees and users are known
as "Fools."
The company says its mission is "To
Educate, Amuse & Enrich."
Currently, The Motley Fool offers investment newsletters and books for sale with a dozen titles and more than 2 million books in print.
The Motley Fool has partnerships with Yahoo, AOL and MSN. The site earns revenues from advertising and subscriptions to its newsletters.
The Fool also publishes a syndicated newspaper column found in about 125 newspapers along with a national syndicated radio show.
The company's major investors have included AOL, Maveron, Softbank Capital, BIA Digital Partners and Patriot Capital.
In 2009, the company launched The Independence Fund, its first retail mutual fund. It now has three different funds available for investment.
History
It all started with chocolate pudding.
Brothers David and Tom Gardner learned
about stocks and the business world when they were young from
their father at the supermarket. Dad, a lawyer and economist,
would tell them, "See that pudding? We own the company that
makes it! Every time someone buys that pudding, it's good for
our company. So go get some more!"
The lesson stuck. The brothers founded
The Motley Fool in 1993 with an investment newsletter to educate,
enrich, and amuse individual investors around the world.
In 1994, a partnership with America Online
allowed The Motley Fool to come to life online. Fool.com was
launched on the World Wide Web soon thereafter. The brothers
quickly established the "Fool Portfolio" of stocks,
funded with their own money, and Fools around the world were
invited to learn from the Gardners' investing successes and mistakes.
The Fool Portfolio (renamed the "Rule Breaker Portfolio")
was celebrated for its dramatic gains until its closure in March
2003.
Since 1996, Tom and David, in partnership
with Simon and Schuster, have published eight books, including
The Motley Fool's Money After 40, The Motley Fool's
What To Do with Your Money Now, The Motley Fool Investment Guide,
The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens, and You
Have More Than You Think. Each Fool book has climbed to BusinessWeek's
best-seller list. This spawned a line of self-published titles
under the Fool Publishing label.
The Fool's nationally syndicated weekly
newspaper column debuted in 1997 and now appears in more than
200 papers. The Gardners and a host of other Motley Fool experts
such as Dayana Yochim, Bill Mann, Robert Brokamp, and Shannon
Zimmerman are frequently sought-after guests and commentators,
appearing on such cable and broadcast outlets as CNBC, CNN, FOX,
NBC, and NPR, and in a wide range of other publications.
And since Foolishness knows no bounds,
The Motley Fool has spread its wings internationally, too. In
March 1998, Fool U.K. was born, and its website and services
have been thriving ever since.
In 2009, the company received $30 million investment from BIA and Patriot Capital.
Benefits
Health Care
The Fool offers comprehensive health,
prescription, vision, and dental coverage through a PPO
plan. And if you are electing coverage for yourself, it's only
$2 per paycheck! Most benefits are even effective on your
date of hire.
Vacation
The Fool's vacation policy is pretty straightforward: take
what you need. That's right, as long as you get your work done
and consult with your supervisor in advance, you may take any
reasonable amount of time off. With pay, of course. Huh? Unlimited
paid time off? What's the catch? Well... nothing, actually.
Fools treat themselves, their company and their co-workers with
fairness and respect, so you will not abuse such a wonderfully
Foolish benefit.
Work Schedule
Work like a grown-up. A Fool's work is never done,
but that doesn't mean we work all the time. As a general rule,
Fools start their day about 9:30 am. Lots of Fools work a standard
40-50 hour workweek. But we recognize that everyone is different.
We try to stay flexible. Working with your supervisors, you can
customize your work schedule to meet the particular demands of
your job.
Pre-Tax Savings Programs
- 401(k) Plan: Employees can contribute up to the legal limit
each year. And as financial educators, we strongly encourage
you to sock away the full amount. Especially since The Motley
Fool matches $.50 on the dollar up to your first 6%.
- Flex Spending Account Plan: Includes medical account
& dependent care account..
Income Protection
- Life Insurance: 1 times annual salary up to $100k, all
paid for by The Fool.
- Short-Term Disability: 100% coverage for up to 90 days
paid for by the Fool (up to a maximum of $1,500 per week).
- Long-Term Disability: 60% of your salary paid for by
the Fool (up to a maximum of $7,500 per month).
- Supplemental Life Insurance: Option to purchase additional
life insurance at a schweet group rate.
- Supplemental Long-Term Disability Insurance: Option
to purchase additional coverage also at a group rate.
Family Concern
- Employee Assistance Program: Confidential counseling &
referral service for employees and eligible dependents.
- Maternity / Paternity Leave: 8 to 12 weeks off at 100%
pay. Plus $400 of take-out meals at The Fool's expense.
Stock Program
Everyone here is an owner. As a new-hire, you'll be granted
options to purchase shares of Motley Fool stock. Your option
price will be based upon the fair market value as determined
by the Board of Directors on the date of grant.
Other Great Benefits
- Fool Dollars: Flexible spending account up to $1,200 for
gym membership, tuition, work-at-home hardware, domestic partner
insurance, and many other approved expenses.
- Free Parking: Right below our magificent 2000 Duke Street
offices.
- Metro Benefits: The Fool provides a Metro subsidy (and
the Metro stop is right across the street!)
- Vet Insurance: Because sometimes the most important
person in your life isn't a person, you have an option to purchase.
- Onsite Massage: Stress happens, even here. So, periodically,
a licensed therapist comes on site to bliss you out with a seated
massage. Not to mention we have two out-of-this-world massage
chairs.
- Pizza, Cake, and the occasional Belgian waffle: Once
a month, we enjoy big gooey cakes to spotlight everyone with
a birthday. And on 12 Fridays per year, we gather for pizza on
The Fool. Ask for your favorite toppings. There are also other
occasional Food days, like PB & J day, Smoothie Day, Hot
Breakfast Day.
- Pre-Paid Legal: You may choose to keep a law firm on
retainer -- at a group rate -- for common legal issues.
- Game Room: We've got pool, foos, ping-pong, pop-n-shot,
Playstation, Atari, Ms. Pacman and satellite TV. We play at all
hours.
- Onsite Gym: Fools have access to an in house gym with
locker rooms and shower facilities.
- Dress Code: Anything goes, even white shoes before Memorial
Day. We really only have three types of unacceptable dress
here at The Fool: Viking helmets with strapless evening gowns;
plaid with polka-dots; more than three colors not found in nature.
Updated January 2, 2012
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