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Segment and Geographical Area Information
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2024
Segment Reporting [Abstract]  
Segment and Geographical Area Information Segment and Geographical Area Information
Segment Information

Our segments are generally organized around the company's product offerings. The company concluded that it has seven operating segments which are presented as the following five reportable segments:

•Morningstar Data and Analytics
•PitchBook
•Morningstar Credit
•Morningstar Wealth
•Morningstar Retirement

The operating segments of Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes do not individually meet the quantitative segment reporting thresholds and have been combined and presented as part of Corporate and All Other, which is not a reportable segment. Corporate and All Other provides a reconciliation between revenue from our total reportable segments and consolidated revenue amounts.

Morningstar Data and Analytics provides investors comprehensive data, research and insights, and investment analysis to empower investment decision-making. Morningstar Data and Analytics includes product areas such as Morningstar Data, Morningstar Direct, and Morningstar Advisor Workstation.
PitchBook provides investors with access to a broad collection of data and research covering the private capital markets, including venture capital, private equity, private credit and bank loans, and merger and acquisition (M&A) activities. Investors can also access Morningstar's data and research on public equities.

Morningstar Credit provides investors with credit ratings, research, data, and credit analytics solutions that contribute to the transparency of international and domestic credit markets. Morningstar Credit includes the Morningstar DBRS product area and the Morningstar Credit data and credit analytics product areas.

Morningstar Wealth brings together our model portfolios and wealth platform; practice and portfolio management software for registered investment advisers; data aggregation and enrichment capabilities; and our individual investor platform. Morningstar Wealth includes the Investment Management product area.

Morningstar Retirement offers products designed to help individuals reach their retirement goals. Its offerings include managed retirement accounts, fiduciary services, Morningstar Lifetime Allocation funds, and custom models.

FASB ASC 280 establishes standards for reporting information about operating segments. Operating segments are defined as components of an enterprise about which separate financial information is available that is evaluated regularly by the CODM, in deciding how to allocate resources and assess performance. The company's chief executive officer, who is considered to be its CODM, reviews segment revenue and Segment Adjusted Operating Income presented on an operating segment basis for purposes of making operating decisions and assessing financial performance. For each segment, the CODM uses segment revenue and Segment Adjusted Operating Income in the annual budget and forecasting process. The CODM considers budget-to-actual variance when making decisions about allocating capital and personnel.

We define Segment Adjusted Operating Income as operating income excluding all mergers and acquisitions (M&A)-related expenses and gains (related to merger, acquisition, and divestiture activity including earn-outs), intangible amortization, and expenses related to the significant reduction and shift of the company's operations in China. The CODM does not consider these adjustments for the purposes of making decisions to allocate resources among segments or to assess segment performance. Although the amounts are excluded from segment Adjusted Operating Income, they are included in reported consolidated operating income and are included in the reconciliation to consolidated results. Expenses presented as part of the company's segments include allocations of shared costs. Shared costs include technology, investment research, sales, facilities, and marketing. These allocations are based on expected utilization of shared resources. Adjusted Operating Income is the reported measure that the company believes is most consistent with those used in measuring the corresponding amount in the consolidated financial statements.

The CODM does not review any information regarding total assets on a segment basis. Operating segments do not record intersegment revenues; therefore, there is none to be reported.

The following tables present information about the company’s reportable segments for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022 along with the items necessary to reconcile the segment information to the totals reported in the accompanying consolidated financial statements. Prior period segment information is presented on a comparable basis to the basis on which current period segment information is presented and reviewed by the CODM.
Year ended December 31, 2024
(in millions)Morningstar Data and AnalyticsPitchBookMorningstar CreditMorningstar WealthMorningstar RetirementTotal Reportable Segments
Revenue by type(1):
License-based$786.7 $611.6 $16.4 $80.4 $1.8 $1,496.9 
Asset-based— — — 142.3 125.3 267.6 
Transaction-based1.4 6.8 274.7 25.7 — 308.6 
Total segment revenue788.1 618.4 291.1 248.4 127.1 2,073.1 
Less:
Compensation expense(2)
216.1 289.5 162.5 124.6 43.9 
Other segment items(3)
216.6 142.5 53.0 133.1 17.6 
Adjusted operating income (loss)$355.4 $186.4 $75.6 $(9.3)$65.6 $673.7 

Year ended December 31, 2023
(in millions)Morningstar Data and AnalyticsPitchBookMorningstar CreditMorningstar WealthMorningstar RetirementTotal Reportable Segments
Revenue by type(1):
License-based$745.5 $551.9 $11.7 $80.8 $1.7 $1,391.6 
Asset-based— — — 122.6 108.5 231.1 
Transaction-based1.7 — 203.7 26.5 0.3 232.2 
Total segment revenue747.2 551.9 215.4 229.9 110.5 1,854.9 
Less:
Compensation expense(2)
173.8 281.0 128.2 151.5 41.0 
Other segment items(3)
233.6 122.8 65.5 118.8 15.4 
Adjusted operating income (loss)$339.8 $148.1 $21.7 $(40.4)$54.1 $523.3 

Year ended December 31, 2022
(in millions)Morningstar Data and AnalyticsPitchBookMorningstar CreditMorningstar WealthMorningstar RetirementTotal Reportable Segments
Revenue by type(1):
License-based$695.1 $450.7 $— $80.9 $2.0 $1,228.7 
Asset-based— — — 117.6 101.8 219.4 
Transaction-based1.5 — 236.9 30.4 0.2 269.0 
Total segment revenue696.6 450.7 236.9 228.9 104.0 1,717.1 
Less:
Compensation expense(2)
161.9 263.3 124.2 129.2 37.0 
Other segment items(3)
221.4 115.9 53.6 114.0 15.6 
Adjusted operating income (loss)$313.3 $71.5 $59.1 $(14.3)$51.4 $481.0 
___________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) Starting with the quarter ended March 31, 2024, revenue from PitchBook media sales product was reclassified from license-based to transaction-based. Starting with the quarter ended March 31, 2023, revenue from Morningstar Credit data products was reclassified from transaction-based to license-based. Prior periods have not been restated to reflect the updated classifications.

(2) Compensation expense includes salaries, bonus, commissions, employee benefits, payroll taxes, and stock-based compensation incurred for employees directly associated with each reportable segment. Allocated compensation expense related to corporate and centralized functions is reported within Other segment items.
(3) Other segment items for each reportable segment includes:
Morningstar Data and Analytics - allocated expenses, infrastructure costs, and other overhead costs.
PitchBook - allocated expenses, infrastructure costs, professional fees, and other overhead costs.
Morningstar Credit - allocated expenses, infrastructure costs, professional fees, and other overhead costs.
Morningstar Wealth - allocated expenses, infrastructure costs, and other overhead costs.
Morningstar Retirement - allocated expenses, infrastructure costs, professional fees, and other overhead costs.

Year ended December 31,
(in millions)202420232022
Reconciliation of reportable segment revenue to consolidated revenue:
Total reportable segment revenue$2,073.1 $1,854.9 $1,717.1 
Corporate and All Other (4)
202.0 183.7 153.5 
Total consolidated revenue$2,275.1 $2,038.6 $1,870.6 
Reconciliation of reportable segment adjusted operating income to income before income taxes:
Total reportable segment adjusted operating income$673.7 $523.3 $481.0 
Corporate and All Other (5)
(179.9)(196.8)(182.1)
Intangible amortization expense (6)
(64.5)(70.5)(66.7)
M&A-related expenses (7)
(8.5)(9.8)(17.1)
M&A-related gains (8)
64.0 — — 
M&A-related earn-outs (9)
— — (11.6)
Severance and personnel expenses (10)
— (5.5)(27.5)
Transformation costs (10)
— (7.0)(8.2)
Asset impairment costs (10)
— (3.1)— 
Operating Income484.8 230.6 167.8 
Non-operating expense, net6.5 (49.1)(37.2)
Equity in investments of unconsolidated entities(17.4)(7.4)(3.6)
Income before income taxes$473.9 $174.1 $127.0 
___________________________________________________________________________________________
(4) Corporate and All Other provides a reconciliation between revenue from our Total Reportable Segments and consolidated revenue amounts. Corporate and All Other includes Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes as sources of revenues. Revenue from Morningstar Sustainalytics was $117.3 million in 2024, $118.2 million in 2023, and $103.3 million in 2022. Revenue from Morningstar Indexes was $84.7 million in 2024, $65.5 million in 2023, and $50.2 million in 2022.

(5) Corporate and All Other includes unallocated corporate expenses of $181.4 million in 2024, $153.5 million in 2023, $135.8 million in 2022, as well as adjusted operating income/loss from Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes. Unallocated corporate expenses include finance, human resources, legal, and other management-related costs that are not considered when segment performance is evaluated.

(6) Excludes finance lease amortization expense of $0.5 million in 2024, $1.2 million in 2023, $2.1 million in 2022.

(7) Reflects non-recurring expenses related to merger, acquisition, and divestiture activity such as pre-deal due diligence, transaction costs, severance, and post-close integration costs.

(8) Reflects the gain on sale of customer assets from the US Morningstar Wealth Turnkey Asset Management Platform (TAMP) to AssetMark.

(9) Reflects the impact of M&A-related earn-outs included in operating expense.

(10) Reflects costs associated with the significant reduction of the company's operations in Shenzhen, China and the shift of work related to its global business functions to other Morningstar locations.

Severance and personnel expenses include severance charges, incentive payments related to early signing of severance agreements, transition bonuses, and stock-based compensation related to the accelerated vesting of RSU and MSU awards. In addition, the reversal of accrued sabbatical liabilities is included in this category.
Transformation costs include professional fees and the temporary duplication of headcount. As the company hired replacement roles in other markets and shifted capabilities, it employed certain Shenzhen-based staff through the transition period, which resulted in elevated compensation costs on a temporary basis.

Asset impairment costs include the write-off or accelerated depreciation of fixed assets in the Shenzhen, China office that were not redeployed, in addition to lease abandonment costs as the company downsized its office space prior to the lease termination date.

The following table presents depreciation expense and stock-based compensation expense by reportable segment:

Depreciation ExpenseStock-Based Compensation Expense
Year ended December 31,Year ended December 31,
(in millions)202420232022202420232022
Morningstar Data and Analytics$37.9 $31.0 $23.4 $5.7 $10.6 $10.5 
PitchBook31.8 26.8 23.8 4.4 10.3 40.2 
Morningstar Credit8.9 9.1 8.9 6.7 7.0 6.3 
Morningstar Wealth18.5 15.8 18.1 3.9 6.4 5.7 
Morningstar Retirement10.0 11.0 7.9 1.5 1.6 1.6 
Total Reportable Segments107.1 93.7 82.1 22.2 35.9 64.3 
Corporate and All Other (10)
18.3 19.5 15.7 32.5 16.9 18.9 
Total$125.4 $113.2 $97.8 $54.7 $52.8 $83.2 
___________________________________________________________________________________________
(10) Corporate and All Other provides a reconciliation between depreciation expense and stock-based compensation expense from our Total Reportable Segments and consolidated depreciation expense and stock-based compensation expense. Corporate and All Other includes unallocated corporate expenses of depreciation expense and stock-based compensation expense related to finance, human resources, legal, and other management-related costs that are not considered when segment performance is evaluated as well as depreciation expense and stock-based compensation expense from Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes.

Geographical Area Information

The tables below summarize our revenue, long-lived assets, which includes property, equipment, and capitalized software, net, and operating lease assets, by geographical area. Revenue is attributed to geographical area based on country in which the sale was contracted.
Revenue by geographical area
Year ended December 31,
(in millions)202420232022
United States$1,638.8 $1,470.6 $1,353.9 
Asia49.6 49.3 44.8 
Australia62.4 58.4 55.8 
Canada140.4 116.3 109.8 
Continental Europe203.8 185.5 162.9 
United Kingdom167.4 148.0 133.6 
Other12.7 10.5 9.8 
Total International636.3 568.0 516.7 
Consolidated revenue$2,275.1 $2,038.6 $1,870.6 
Property, equipment, and capitalized software, net by geographical area
As of December 31,
(in millions)20242023
United States$189.5 $178.5 
Asia9.6 9.9 
Australia1.6 1.9 
Canada6.6 3.6 
Continental Europe5.3 6.5 
United Kingdom6.1 7.2 
Other0.2 0.1 
Total International29.4 29.2 
Consolidated property, equipment, and capitalized software, net$218.9 $207.7 
Operating lease assets by geographical area
As of December 31,
(in millions)20242023
United States$92.9 $100.7 
Asia44.2 16.5 
Australia2.4 3.2 
Canada7.7 8.2 
Continental Europe19.1 18.1 
United Kingdom14.7 16.9 
Other0.2 0.3 
Total International88.3 63.2 
Consolidated operating lease assets$181.2 $163.9