Google Finance and Intralinks: A Symbiotic Relationship in Financial Data Access

While seemingly disparate, Google Finance and Intralinks play complementary roles in the financial information ecosystem. Google Finance provides broad, readily accessible market data and news for retail investors and casual observers, whereas Intralinks offers secure, controlled environments for sharing highly sensitive and confidential information, often in the context of mergers, acquisitions, and other complex financial transactions.

Google Finance: Democratizing Market Data

Google Finance is a web platform that delivers real-time stock quotes, financial news, and company information. Its strength lies in its accessibility and user-friendliness. Investors can easily track stock prices, monitor portfolio performance, and stay updated on market trends. The platform aggregates news from various sources, providing a comprehensive overview of financial events. Features like charting tools and financial ratios (e.g., P/E ratio, EPS) enable users to perform basic fundamental analysis. Crucially, Google Finance is freely available, making financial information accessible to a wide audience. However, it’s important to recognize its limitations. The data may not be as granular or timely as that provided by professional financial data vendors, and the news aggregation, while extensive, may lack the depth and analysis offered by specialized financial news services.

Intralinks: Secure Collaboration for Financial Transactions

Intralinks is a cloud-based platform specializing in secure document sharing and collaboration, primarily used in the financial sector. It facilitates the exchange of sensitive information between parties involved in complex transactions such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity deals, and capital raisings. Intralinks provides a virtual data room (VDR) environment with robust security features, including granular access controls, encryption, and audit trails. This ensures that confidential documents are only accessible to authorized individuals and that all activity within the VDR is tracked and monitored. The platform’s collaborative tools enable teams to work together efficiently on due diligence, contract negotiation, and other critical tasks. Unlike Google Finance, Intralinks is a subscription-based service aimed at professionals who require a secure and controlled environment for sharing highly sensitive financial information.

Complementary Roles

Google Finance and Intralinks cater to different needs within the financial ecosystem. An investment banker researching a potential acquisition target might use Google Finance to get a quick overview of the company’s stock performance and recent news. However, when the due diligence phase begins, the same banker would rely on Intralinks to securely share confidential financial statements, legal documents, and other sensitive information with potential buyers. Google Finance informs the initial research and provides general market context, while Intralinks facilitates the secure and controlled exchange of sensitive information required to execute complex financial transactions.

In conclusion, while Google Finance provides accessible and broad market data, Intralinks offers a secure and controlled environment for sharing confidential information in complex financial transactions. They are distinct but complementary tools that serve different needs within the broader financial landscape.