Any company that is not brand new has a company history. When investing in a company or considering the purchase of a company, it is important to know its history and past performance to make the best possible decisions. Check a company history to determine if the company is worth investing in or if it is best left alone.

Read the historical information available on the company website. Every major company and most small businesses have a website where information about the company is available. Most companies, especially older ones, will provide historical information about the company on the website.

Look up the company with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB has information about the company, including customer complaints and how the company handled the complaints. Avoid companies that do not deal with customer complaints or that have bad reviews on the BBB website.

Look up the stock history on a website such as MSN Money or Yahoo Finance. These sites provide information about the current stock prices and historical stock prices. This will give an idea of the company’s historical financial performance. A company that has an overall good financial history is stable and doing well.

Look for news articles relating to the company. Older companies might require looking up the information at a library in the newspaper databases, but most companies will have news articles that are available online either through news websites directly or a simple search of the company name. Pay extra attention to news articles about corporate crimes. Avoid companies that have a history of crime.

Check investor websites, such as fundinguniverse.com, for company histories. Since investors give companies money, there are websites devoted to giving the history of various companies in one easy location. Most companies on these websites will be well known. These websites include financial information like company financial performance and information about what the company does and where they make money. Investors are interested in finances and the stability of a company, so the information on websites geared toward investors has information about financial history and company stability.