Morningstar sells stake to Softbank
From The Wall Street Journal
As reported yesterday by MFWire.com, Morningstar will be selling a 20% stake to Japan's Softbank in an effort to boost their Internet presence. The Japanese global content provider is paying $91 million for a piece of the Chicago-based mutual fund research firm. The Wall Street Journal said the deal is likely to delay a Morningstar IPO, which has been rumored in the mutual fund industry. However, the new capital should help Morningstar expand its Internet effort making it a even more attractive company down the road.

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Value Line pops up first
From The Wall Street Journal
The Journal recently evaluated several Internet sites that offer investors assistance in picking mutual funds. Over the course of the evaluation it found somewhat unusual results from sites incorporating Value Line's data and screening tools. It turns out Value Line's screens often gave unusual prominence to its own funds. This may have caused investors to inquire about Value Line funds when they might not have otherwise done so. Once such site, Brill's Mutual Funds Interactive has since removed Value Line's offerings following the Journal's inquiries.

PricewaterhourseCoopers managers must unload holdings
From TheStreet.com
PricewaterhouseCoopers managers are scrambling to comply with a new edict saying any stock, bond, mutual fund or other investment tied to the companies the firm audits must be sold by August 31. The new policy, previously only for partners, brings PWC in line with policies at the rest of the Big Five. With the changes, mutual funds offered by Vanguard, Fidelity, Federated, T. Rowe Price, Scudder, Janus and Dreyfus, to name a few, are now off-limits.

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