Morningstar CEO took risks to go far

— -- Joe Mansueto doesn't look like a wild man.

Still, you have to wonder. Stock in the company he founded, Morningstar, is down more than 50% the past 12 months. The financial industry is reeling. Media companies are getting clobbered. Mansueto runs a media company that specializes in the financial-services industry. But Morningstar has been on a buying spree, snapping up six companies in a year, including one that follows South African mutual funds. "It's our first presence on the African continent," Mansueto says, with pride.

Those who have followed his career aren't surprised. "It's a tough time in financial services and the media, but it's a good time if you have cash," Phillips says. "He's takes a long-term view when everyone else is taking a short-term view."

And, in fact, behind Mansueto's quiet Midwestern manners is one of the nation's boldest entrepreneurs. Mansueto started Morningstar in 1984 with $80,000 when he was 27 years old, going up against fund-tracking services that had been in business since the 1940s.

Morningstar had one big advantage over its rivals: It aimed its services at consumers in a format that was easy to use and understand. The Morningstar style box, which let investors know a fund's investment strategy at a glance, has become iconic — as has Morningstar's own logo, which Mansueto paid legendary designer Paul Rand $50,000 to create. And Mansueto pushed the company hard to invest in technology, which meant it was offering computerized databases when other companies were still printing monthly newsletters.

Analysts are definitely staying busy

Today, Morningstar is a $1.3 billion company with operations in 19 countries and sales of $501 million. The Chicago-based investment-tracking company covers stocks, mutual funds, hedge funds and managed accounts, and sells its data to individuals, financial advisers and institutions. Not content with running Morningstar, Mansueto formed Mansueto Ventures in 2005 and bought Inc. magazine, which focuses on small businesses, and Fast Company, a magazine devoted to the stock market.