In 2000, Dun & Bradstreet spun off Moody's Corporation as a separate company that was listed on the NYSE under MCO.

[7] The publication provided detailed statistics relating to stocks and bonds of financial institutions, government agencies, manufacturing, mining, utilities, and food companies.

[8] The 1907 financial crisis fueled several changes in the markets, including the creation of the Federal Reserve System.

[7] In 1962, Moody's Investors Service was bought by Dun & Bradstreet, a firm engaged in the related field of credit reporting, although they continued to operate largely as independent companies.

[11] By the late 1990s, Moody's superior performance compared to its parent company brought investor pressure to separate the businesses.

[12] In 1998, Dun & Bradstreet sold the Moody's publishing business to Financial Communications (later renamed Mergent).

[13] In December 1999, Dun & Bradstreet announced it would spin off Moody's Investors Service into a separate publicly traded company.

[18] According to Moody's, the purpose of its ratings is to "provide investors with a simple system of gradation by which future relative creditworthiness of securities may be gauged".

[15] Acquisitions included KMV, Economy.com, Wall Street Analytics, Fermat International, Enb Consulting Ltd., The Institute of Risk Standards and Qualifications (iRSQ), CSI Global Education Inc.,[22] and Bureau van Dijk[23][circular reference].

They filed lawsuits in 2008 and 2009 that Moody's misled them by allegedly inflating ratings on two so-called structured investment vehicles they purchased.

"The settlement resolves allegations arising from Moody’s role in providing credit ratings for Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO), contributing to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression."

[37] In 2021, Moody's acquired Risk Management Solutions (RMS) from Daily Mail and General Trust for $2 billion.