S&P Global Inc.
S&P Global Inc. (SPGI)
Overview
S&P Global Inc. is one of the world's leading providers of credit ratings, financial data, analytics, and benchmark indices, serving banks, asset managers, corporations, and governments globally. Headquartered at 55 Water Street in New York City and classified in the financial services sector, S&P Global reported full-year 2025 total revenue of $15.34 billion and net income of $4.47 billion, with approximately 44,500 employees worldwide. The company traces its roots to a 1917 publishing merger and took its current name in 2016 after divesting its education businesses; on July 1, 2026, S&P Global completed the spin-off of its Mobility division into an independent public company (Mobility Global), narrowing its ongoing operations to four core information-services businesses: Ratings, Market Intelligence, Energy, and S&P Dow Jones Indices.
What They Do & How They Make Money
S&P Global earns revenue by selling essential, hard-to-replicate information, analysis, and benchmarks that underpin how capital markets function. Its largest and most iconic business, S&P Global Ratings, is paid primarily by bond issuers (corporations, governments, and financial institutions) to assess and publicly rate their creditworthiness — a service issuers need because investors and regulations require independent credit opinions before debt can be efficiently sold; this generates both transaction fees (tied to new debt issuance volumes) and recurring surveillance fees for ongoing rating maintenance. Market Intelligence sells subscription-based access to financial data, analytics platforms, research, and workflow tools that investment professionals rely on daily for valuation, risk, and research work. The Energy division (formerly Commodity Insights, built around the Platts brand) sells subscription-based price assessments, benchmarks, and analytics that the physical and financial commodity and energy markets use to price contracts and trade — these benchmark prices are deeply embedded in industry contracts, creating very sticky recurring revenue. S&P Dow Jones Indices, majority-owned by S&P Global in a joint venture, earns revenue both from subscription/data licensing and — notably — from asset-based fees tied to the trillions of dollars invested in funds and derivatives that track its indices (including the S&P 500 itself), meaning its revenue grows automatically as passive investing and assets under management in indexed products grow. Across all divisions, the business model is fundamentally about being the trusted, embedded "source of record" that markets are built on top of, which produces high recurring revenue, pricing power, and strong margins.
Business Segments
Following the July 2026 Mobility spin-off, S&P Global reports four segments (shown here on a pro forma 2025 basis, i.e., excluding Mobility):
- S&P Global Ratings (~34% of pro forma 2025 revenue): Credit ratings and related research for corporate, government, financial institution, and structured finance debt issuers, plus its Indian subsidiary CRISIL's ratings and analytics business.
- S&P Global Market Intelligence (~34% of pro forma 2025 revenue): Data, analytics, and workflow tools for investment and risk professionals, now organized around Kensho Data & Platforms (AI-driven data/analytics products) and Enterprise Solutions (desktop and enterprise data feeds/analytics).
- S&P Global Energy (~18% of pro forma 2025 revenue): Commodity and energy price benchmarks and market intelligence, combining the Platts pricing/benchmark business with CERA (energy and geopolitical research/consulting, from the former CERAWeek/IHS Markit heritage).
- S&P Dow Jones Indices (~13% of pro forma 2025 revenue): Design, calculation, and licensing of stock market indices (S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and hundreds of thousands of other benchmarks), earning both data/licensing subscription fees and asset-based fees on indexed investment products.
On a pro forma (ex-Mobility) 2025 basis, the company generated approximately $13.6 billion in revenue and $4.2 billion in net income; as-reported 2025 figures including the divested Mobility segment (automotive data and analytics, including Carfax) were $15.34 billion in revenue and $4.47 billion in net income.
Competitors
- Moody's Corporation: S&P Global's closest and most direct competitor, particularly in credit ratings (Moody's Investors Service) and financial analytics (Moody's Analytics).
- Fitch Ratings: the third major global credit rating agency, competing directly with S&P and Moody's for ratings mandates, though smaller in scale.
- Bloomberg L.P.: a dominant competitor in financial data and analytics terminals, competing directly with Market Intelligence.
- FactSet and the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG, owner of Refinitiv): major competitors in financial data, analytics, and research distribution.
- MSCI Inc.: a key competitor in index design/licensing and investment analytics, competing with S&P Dow Jones Indices and parts of Market Intelligence.
- ICE (Intercontinental Exchange) and Argus Media: competitors in commodity/energy price benchmarking and data, relevant to the Energy division.
Competitive Position
S&P Global's core moat is the deep entrenchment of its benchmarks and ratings within the plumbing of global capital and commodity markets: credit ratings are frequently required or referenced by regulation and by investment mandates, index licenses (especially for the S&P 500) are embedded in trillions of dollars of passive fund and derivative contracts that are extremely costly and disruptive to switch away from, and commodity price benchmarks are written directly into physical trading contracts across the energy and raw materials industries. This entrenchment, combined with an oligopolistic ratings market shared mainly with Moody's and Fitch, and a strong reputation built over more than a century, gives S&P Global significant pricing power and very high incremental margins as its underlying markets (debt issuance, indexed assets, and commodity trading volumes) grow. The 2026 Mobility spin-off is intended to sharpen this position further by allowing the remaining businesses — which are more clearly "information and benchmark" businesses with a shared model — to be managed and valued more coherently.
Principal risks include cyclicality in the Ratings business, whose transaction revenue is tied to bond issuance volumes and is sensitive to interest rates and credit market conditions; regulatory risk, since credit ratings, benchmarks (including LIBOR-successor and index-related rules), and data practices are subject to scrutiny in the U.S., EU, and U.K.; and competitive and disruption risk from AI-enabled new entrants that could erode demand for some traditional data and research products even as S&P Global itself invests heavily in AI tools like Kensho. Execution risk around the recently completed Mobility separation (potential loss of scale synergies, stranded costs, and integration complexity) is also a live consideration for investors evaluating the post-spin company, along with ordinary risks around cybersecurity, data protection, and the ability to retain specialized data-science and AI talent.