Below, please find a history of the Weiss companies:
| 1971 | Dr. Martin D. Weiss establishes Martin D. Weiss Research, Inc., the predecessor of Weiss Research, Inc., to serve investors and evaluate the safety of financial institutions. |
| 1972 | The company is registered as an investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). |
| 1975 | The company publishes its first mass market publication, and Martin Weiss establishes a fact-checking function to assure the accuracy of all advertising and publications. |
| 1976 | First issue of the Martin Weiss’ monthly newsletter, later named the Safe Money Report, is published with the first investment recommendations. |
| Martin Weiss establishes rules restricting trading by principals or employees in any securities cited in its publications. | |
| 1985 | Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision clarifying exemption of investment newsletters from registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, most investment newsletter publishers, including Weiss Research, allow their registrations with the SEC to lapse. |
| 1987 | Weiss publishes its first guide rating all banks and thrifts. |
| 1989 | Weiss publishes the nation’s first independent ratings of insurance companies. |
| 1992 | Weiss Research publishes its first Premium Service designed to provide trading recommendations to a small group of sophisticated investors. |
| Martin Weiss establishes rule for plain-English risk disclosures to be provided to all subscribers before investing. | |
| 1994 | A landmark study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) concludes that Weiss Research far outperforms all of the nation’s major rating agencies, including Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s and A.M. Best, in warning of future life and health insurance company failures, including the failures of Executive Life of California, Executive Life of New York, Fidelity Bankers Life, First Capital Life, Mutual Benefit Life of New Jersey, and others. Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) — Insurance Ratings: Comparison of Private Agency Ratings for Life/Health Insurers. |
| 1995 | Weiss Group, LLC is founded as a holding company of four Weiss subsidiaries — Weiss Research, Weiss Ratings, and Weiss Capital Management and the Weiss School. |
| Weiss Group formalizes written guidelines for personal security transactions. | |
| 1998 | Weiss publishes ratings of open-end mutual funds. |
| 2001 | Weiss publishes ratings of stocks. |
| 2002 | Weiss Research establishes an internal Compliance Department to monitor the fairness of all advertising and the performance of published recommendations. |
| 2003 | Weiss publishes ratings of ETF and closed-end mutual funds. |
| 2005 | Weiss Research launches its first free daily e-letter, Money and Markets. |
| 2006 | Weiss Ratings, Inc. is acquired by TheStreet.com. |
| 2006 | Martin D. Weiss and Weiss Research, Inc. settle a dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding “autotrading,” the separation of an investment publisher from an investment advisor, and the differing advertising standards for each. |
| 2009 | Martin D. Weiss releases his new book, The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide, to help individuals prepare for hard times and as an instrument in a national, grassroots campaign to help promote a more sustainable U.S. recovery. Weiss donates all royalties derived from his book to the Campaign to End Child Homelessness, with the first donation ($100,000) made on April 17. Click here for joint press release. |
| 2010 | Weiss Group, LLC re-acquires the Ratings insurance and banking group from TheStreet.com and enters into an agreement to distribute TheStreet.com stock and mutual fund ratings. |
| 2010 | The Weiss Group converts the Weiss School, a school for gifted children from pre-K through the 8th grade, from a for-profit to a not-for-profit institution, donating this entire asset to the community. |
| 2011 | Weiss publishes ratings of the debt of sovereign nations. |
