The late 1990's have seen the emergence of the individual investor. The most celebrated fact associated with this phenomenon may be the increasing use of online investing by individual investors. The rapid emergence of online brokerages, with their increasing market values relative to full service brokerages, is testament to this revolution. Coinciding with this revolution is an increased demand for investment information by individual investors. Both the financial information industry and the broadcasting industry have tried to meet this demand. Numberous Internet sits, such as Yahoo and WSRN, provided basic financial information. Other Internet sites, such as Vcall, provide live coverage of analyst conferences. Two recent Internet IPOs, Market Watch and The Street Dot Com, were structured to finance Internet sites that will provide financial news. Cable television has not been left behind with the surge in demand of financial information. Programs by CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and Bloomberg are capitalizing on the exploding demand for financial information.
