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The Motley Fool (Opinion)

U.S. center, pro-investor (market-oriented personal finance)

Owned byPrivately held by The Motley Fool Holdings, Inc. Co-founders Tom and David Gardner are reported to retain majority control. Tom Gardner is CEO. Exact ownership shares are not public.
FundingMainly paid subscriptions to its stock-picking services (such as Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers). Also advertising, affiliate and referral fees from financial-product partners, and its asset-management and ETF businesses.
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

The Motley Fool was founded in July 1993 by brothers David and Tom Gardner, with Todd Etter and Erik Rydholm, starting as a newsletter and early online presence. It grew into a large investing-media and advice company on its fool.com site, with a podcast, books, and radio. It has stayed private, with the Gardner brothers reported as majority owners. Its business rests on selling subscription stock-recommendation services, and its articles often point readers to those products. The company also runs separate businesses such as Motley Fool Asset Management (ETFs) and Motley Fool Ventures. Critics have questioned the marketing-heavy tone and the performance claims of its paid services, and its writers often hold positions in stocks they discuss, which the site discloses. Its opinion articles are written mostly by contributors and focus on stocks, the economy, and retirement. They are generally optimistic about long-term equity investing and avoid partisan framing. In 2025–2026, its coverage of Trump's tariffs, Federal Reserve policy, and inflation was often skeptical of the economic effects, citing analysts and reports, though this was framed as market analysis rather than political opposition.

Sources

  1. The Motley Fool – Wikipedia
  2. The Motley Fool, Inc. — Company History
  3. Motley Fool Asset Management – Our Story & Parent Company
  4. President Donald Trump Claims, "We Don't Have Inflation, and Tariffs Don't Cause Inflation," but a New Report Strongly Disagrees
  5. The Stock Market Sounds an Alarm, and the Federal Reserve Delivers Bad News About President Trump's Tariffs

Profile compiled 2026-10-22; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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