William J. O'Neil

About the Author

William Joseph O’Neil (March 25, 1933 – May 28, 2023) was an American businessman, stockbroker and writer. He founded the stock brokerage firm William O’Neil & Co. Inc in 1963 and the business newspaper Investor’s Business Daily in 1984. O’Neil was the author of the books How to Make Money in Stocks, 24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success and The Successful Investor among others, and is the creator of the CAN SLIM investment strategy.

Career

In 1958, O’Neil started his career as a stockbroker at Hayden, Stone & Company, and developed an investment strategy which made early use of computers. In 1960, he was accepted to Harvard Business School’s first Program for Management Development (PMD). From his research, O’Neil invented the CAN SLIM strategy and became the top-performing broker in his firm. He bought a seat on the NYSE at age 30 and became the youngest at that time ever to do so. In 1963, he founded William O’Neil + Co. Inc., a company which developed the first computerized daily securities database and sold its research to institutional investors and tracks over 70,000 companies worldwide.

Daily Graphs was launched by William O’Neil to produce Daily Graphs, a printed book of stock charts delivered weekly to subscribers in 1972. In 1998, O’Neil launched Daily Graphs Online as a comprehensive online equity research tool and an extension of the Daily Graphs business he launched in 1972. In 2010, Daily Graphs Inc. and its service was re-branded as MarketSmith.

In 1973, he founded “O’Neil Data Systems, Inc.”, to provide high-speed printing and database-publishing facilities. The company now operates as O’Neil Digital Solutions and has operations in Los Angeles, Dallas and Monroe, North Carolina. The firm provides data-driven publishing and marketing communications.

In 1984, O’Neil made research from his database available in print form with the launch of Investor’s Daily, a national business newspaper aimed to compete with The Wall Street Journal. In 1991, the publication’s name was changed from Investor’s Daily to Investor’s Business Daily.

As of 2015, the newspaper had a circulation of 113,000 and its website attracted 2.9 million visitors a month. In 2016, the newspaper changed its printing schedule to weekly, but continued to publish news daily on its website.

Books

• The Model Book of Greatest Stock Market Winners
• 24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success, learn the most Important Investment Techniques from the Founder of Investor’s Business Daily
• The Successful Investor: What 80 Million People Need to Know to Invest Profitably and Avoid Big Losses
• Sports Leaders & Success : 55 Top Sports Leaders & How They Achieved Greatness
• Military and Political Leaders & Success : 55 Top Military and Political Leaders & How They Achieved Greatness
• How to Make Money Selling Stocks Short
• Business Leaders and Success, 55 Top Business Leaders and How They Achieved Greatness
• How to Make Money in Stocks
• The How to Make Money in Stocks Complete Investing System: Your Ultimate Guide to Winning in Good Times and Bad