S&P Global

Corporate History[edit]

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.^[3]


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 Standard & Poor's from Paul Talbot Babson in 1966.


In 1979, McGraw–Hill acquired Byte magazine from its owner/publisher Virginia Williamson, 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.^[4]


In 1994, McGraw–Hill's broadcasting division signed a deal with ABC, due partly to the fact that its stations in San Diego (KGTV) and Indianapolis (WRTV) had already been aligned with the network, and that Denver (KMGH-TV) and Bakersfield (KERO-TV) 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).^[5]


In 1995, McGraw–Hill, Inc. became The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc. as part of a corporate rebranding.^[6]


On October 3, 2011, McGraw–Hill announced it was selling its entire television station group to the E. W. Scripps Company for $212 million.^[7] 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. The sale included McGraw–Hill Broadcasting's stations KERO-TV and KZKC-LP Bakersfield; KGTV and KZSD-LP San Diego; KZCS-LP Colorado Springs; flagship station KMGH-TV and KZCO-LD Denver; KZFC-LP Fort Collins; and WRTV Indianapolis.


On November 26, 2012, McGraw–Hill announced it was selling its entire education division, known as McGraw–Hill Education to Apollo Global Management for $2.5 billion.^[8] On March 22, 2013, McGraw–Hill announced it had completed the sale for $2.4 billion cash.^[9]


On May 1, 2013, shareholders of McGraw–Hill voted to change the company's name to McGraw Hill Financial.^[10]


McGraw–Hill divested the subsidiary McGraw–Hill Construction to Symphony Technology Group for US$320 million on September 22, 2014.^[11] The sale included Engineering News-Record, Architectural Record, Dodge and Sweet's.^[12] McGraw–Hill Construction has been renamed Dodge Data & Analytics.^[13]


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.^[14] McGraw Hill Financial officially changed its name following a shareholder vote on April 27, 2016.^[15]


In April 2016, McGraw–Hill announced it was selling J.D. Power and Associates to investment firm XIO Group for $1.1 billion.^[16]


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.^[17]


In November 2020, S&P Global agreed to acquire IHS Markit analytics company in a $44 billion transaction.^[18][19]