founded july 1993 headquarters alexandria virginia united states founder s david and tom gardner david berger and erik rydholm slogan s the motley fool s purpose is to help the world invest better . website http www.fool.com http www.fool.co.uk http www.fool.com.au http www.fool.ca http www.fool.com.sg http www.fool.de the motley fool is a multimedia financial services company that provides financial solutions for investors through various stock investing and personal finance services . the alexandria virginia based private company was founded in july 1993 by co chairmen and brothers david and tom gardner ; and erik rydholm who has since left . the company employs more than 300 people . contents 1 the business 1.1 investment advice 1.2 motley fool culture 1.3 mutual funds 2 history 3 premium services 3.1 motley fool stock advisor 3.2 others 4 community discussion boards 5 the foolish four 6 blog network 7 see also 8 references 9 external links the business edit investment advice edit the motley fool offers a wide range of stock news and analysis at its free website www.fool.com as well as through a variety of paid investment advice services . the services many of which combine a traditional paper newsletter with interactive electronic discussion boards and other tools cover a range of styles from small caps to international stocks to options to shorting . 1 motley fool culture edit the company received the 2014 and 2015 nationwide honor for being the no. 1 medium sized company to work for in the united states from glassdoor.com . 2 3 mutual funds edit in june 2009 motley fool funds launched its first mutual fund motley fool independence fund . 4 as of mid december 2014 the fund foolx had outperformed the russell 2000 index by almost 20 percentage points and earned 3 out of 5 stars from morningstar . 5 in november 2010 motley fool funds launched motley fool great america fund . as of mid december 2014 the fund tmfgx had outperformed the russell 2000 and the most popular low cost etf tracking the russell 2000 the ishares russell 2000 iwm by almost 20 percentage points and earned a 3 star rating from morningstar . 6 in november 2011 motley fool funds launched motley fool epic voyage fund tmfex . as of mid december 2014 the return of this fund was one third that of the s & p 500 . 7 history edit the name motley fool is taken from shakespeare s comedy as you like it . 8 9 in august 1994 brothers david and tom gardner parlayed their one year old investment newsletter into a content partnership with america online . the motley fool gained renown for its early recommendations of stocks such as amazon.com america online aol amgen ebay paypal and starbucks and was featured in a cover story for fortune magazine 1996 about the emergence of online interactive discussion as a new form of investment research . citation needed in april 1997 the site was moved from aol to the fool.com website 10 and a uk site fool.co.uk was established . 11 motley fool content is available to the public on fool.com and fool.co.uk and in its motley fool money podcast and nationally syndicated newspaper column . the gardners have written several bestselling books on investing most recently the new york times best seller motley fool million dollar portfolio published in december 2008 . 12 their third book rule makers and rule breakers was published in 2000 . 13 their best known book the motley fool investment guide was in 2003 called the 1 all time classic by investment club members of the naic . citation needed during the financial crisis and the dot com bubble collapse in 2001 the company ran into trouble resulting in the loss of 80 % of the staff in a series of three layoffs and the closure of its operations in germany and japan . following the 2000 2002 stock market downturn motley fool started to cover more strategies such as a range of investment styles from small cap stock investing to growth and technology stocks to dividend investing . citation needed a december 2005 washington post article detailed the motley fool s 10 year lease for new offices in old town alexandria virginia taking over office space vacated by time life . 14 in september 2006 the company unveiled motley fool caps a service that monitors and ranks the most successful stock pickers amongst its members . 15 in 2011 the company launched fool australia 16 followed in 2012 by fool canada 17 and fool singapore . 18 premium services edit motley fool stock advisor edit in april 2002 the company launched the first of its premium subscription services . david and tom gardner pick one stock each month in a brotherly competition to best each other and the s & p 500 . they maintain a consistent buy and hold style tending to let their winning stocks compound returns over longer periods of time . others edit motley fool hidden gems small cap stocks motley fool hidden winners uk uk small cap stocks motley fool income investor a newsletter focusing on high yield stocks motley fool inside value a newsletter for value investors motley fool million dollar portfolio a managed portfolio of 1 million of the motley fool s own money motley fool million dollar portfolio 360 a service that combines access to the million dollar portfolio with access to most other newsletters motley fool million dollar portfolio deep value concentrated portfolio for value investors motley fool one allows subscribers to view all the newsletters in one place motley fool options an options recommendation service used in conjunction with investments in securities motley fool pro motley fool pro uk 100 000 real money portfolio motley fool rule breakers david gardner and a team of analysts choose mid cap companies they see as using disruptive innovation to change the marketplace motley fool rule your retirement retirement planning advice motley fool share advisor australia motley fool share advisor uk uk growth and income shares motley fool special ops motley fool supernova gives subscribers access to a team of analysts building a portfolio of david gardner s stocks . this service consists of three portfolios one for regular wage earners another for people nearing retirement and a third portfolio which pits baskets of stocks against each other in a battle to see the best of the bunch . returns on the odyssey portfolio were 67.1 % growth after 28 months as of october 2014 19 not in citation given community discussion boards edit the motley fool hosts online discussion boards . registered users can get access to all non newsletter boards that cover a variety of stock personal finance and investing concepts . the discussion boards are used heavily to recruit future motley fool staffers ; frequent posters are first awarded free subscriptions to their favorite motley fool newsletters then eventually receive a small stipend and tmf username moniker to patrol the boards . the foolish four edit in 1999 motley fool ran into controversy with its eventually discredited foolish four investment theory which had been marketed as a way to crush mutual funds in only 15 minutes a year . 20 21 this stock picking technique was referred to as investment hogwash in its purest form by money magazine writer jason zweig in an august 1999 article titled false profits . 22 zweig also called it one of the most cockamamie stock picking formulas ever concocted in his 2003 commentary in the revised edition of benjamin graham s acclaimed value investing book the intelligent investor . 20 motley fool writer ann coleman admitted in 2000 that the foolish four method turned out to be not nearly as wonderful a strategy as we thought . 23 blog network edit the motley fool blog network was a stock analysis and news site that provided a platform for non motley fool staff writers to submit articles . they received compensation ranging from 50 100 for each article submitted and additional compensation for how many recommendations or editors picks they received . 24 eventually the company merged the blog network with its primary site syndicating bloggers articles alongside those written by in house staff and making the beta.fool.com blogging platform defunct . in july 2014 after yahoo announced its new yahoo finance contributors platform 25 motley fool was negatively impacted as a significant percentage of traffic to its website relied on syndication of articles via yahoo finance . this led the company to sever relationships with the majority of its freelance contributors and former bloggers . 26 see also edit wall street survivor investopedia totalise plc v motley fool ltd references edit motley fool . fool.com . the motley fool named the best medium sized company to work for in the us . the motley fool . december 11 2013 . retrieved december 12 2014 . nycz conner jennifer december 10 2014 the motley fool tops glassdoor s list of best places to work washington business journal morning edition retrieved december 12 2014 jaffe chuck 2009 07 09 . stupid investment of the week . boston marketwatch.com . retrieved 2013 09 12 . motley fool independence fund foolx . morningstar.com . motley fool great america fund tmfgx . morningstar.com . motley fool epic voyage fund tmfex . morningstar.com . harold bloom & pamela loos 2007 . as you like it . p. 10 . cs1 maint uses authors parameter link indeed after meeting touchstone jaques wants to change his own life to take on the life of a motley fool himself . william shakespeare 2004 . as you like it . sparklesoup classics . p. 23 . duke senior . why how now monsieur what a life is this that your poor friends must woo your company what you look merrily jaques . a fool a fool i met a fool i th forest a motley fool . about the motley fool history . fool.com . retrieved 2013 09 12 . about the motley fool uk . fool.co.uk . retrieved 2016 04 06 . david gardner & tom gardner 2008 . motley fool million dollar portfolio . cs1 maint uses authors parameter link david gardner & tom gardner . the motley fools rule breakers rule makers the foolish guide to picking stocks . isbn 9780684857176 . cs1 maint uses authors parameter link de tantillo lila december 15 2005 . the motley fool finds room to grow in city . the washington post . oliver ryan october 3 2006 . stock picking gets social on motley fool . cnn money . retrieved december 12 2014 . about us fool canada . retrieved 13 may 2013 . about us fool australia . retrieved 13 may 2013 . about us fool singapore . retrieved 13 may 2013 . fool.com stock investing advice stock research . the motley fool . a b graham benjamin 2003 . the intelligent investor pdf revised 1973 ed . . harper collins . pp. 44 45 . isbn 0 06 055566 1 . retrieved 13 october 2015 . dogs of the dow and the foolish four . investorhome.com . 1999 06 29 . retrieved 2013 09 12 . zweig jason . false profits . jasonzweig.com . money magazine . retrieved 13 october 2015 . coleman ann december 29 2000 . fool four moves on . fool.com . retrieved 2013 09 12 . details of the motley fool blog network the motley fool october 26 2011 retrieved december 12 2014 pearlman phil july 23 2014 introducing yahoo finance contributors yahoo finance retrieved december 12 2014 creation anew july 30 2014 the motley fool is in disarray laying off massive amounts of contributors reddit retrieved december 12 2014 external links edit the motley fool us the motley fool uk the motley fool australia the motley fool canada the motley fool singapore the motley fool germany motley fool caps v t e andrews mcmeel universal andrews mcmeel universal