The predecessor companies of S&P Global have histories dating to 1888, when James H. McGraw purchased the American Journal of Railway Appliances.

In 1986, McGraw–Hill bought out competitor The Economy Company, then the United States' largest publisher of educational material.

[6][failed verification] On October 3, 2011, McGraw–Hill announced it was selling its entire television station group to the E. W. Scripps Company for $212 million.

The sale included McGraw–Hill Broadcasting's stations KERO-TV and KZKC-LP Bakersfield; KGTV and KZSD-LP San Diego; KZCS-LP Colorado Springs; flagship station KMGH-TV and KZCO-LD Denver; KZFC-LP Fort Collins; and WRTV Indianapolis.

The Platts Developer Platform offers customers with quick exposure to product price databases, business statistics and insights at the pace of market changes.

[17] In November 2020, S&P Global agreed to acquire IHS Markit analytics company in a $44 billion transaction.

S&P Global Market Intelligence is a provider of multi-asset class and real-time data, research, news and analytics to institutional investors, investment and commercial banks, insurance companies, investment advisors and wealth managers, corporations, and universities.

Subsidiaries and brands include Capital IQ, EViews, Journal of Commerce, Panjiva, and Global Insight.

Launched on July 2, 2012, S&P Dow Jones Indices is the world's largest global resource for index-based concepts, data, and research.

[1] The predecessor company McGraw Hill Inc. had been based at 330 West 42nd Street and both have been known as The McGraw–Hill Building, a name originally used for a prior headquarters at 469 Tenth Avenue.

Harold McGraw Jr. (deceased) was a member of the national grant advisory and founding board of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

[53] Established in 1935, the McGraw–Hill Federal Credit Union originally served employees of the McGraw–Hill companies in New York City only.

In 1999, the National Building Museum presented the McGraw–Hill Companies with its annual Honor Award for the corporation's contributions to the built environment.