TimmyHOnline Money: Fidelity expands online news focus
December 7th 2008 23:47
BOSTON (AP) _ Fidelity Investments is joining the rush to satisfy investors' growing appetite for news about financial market turmoil.
The nation's largest mutual fund company planned Thursday to announce a redesign of http://www.fidelity.com, with a deeper trove of information accessible from the home page. Most of it is news and commentary from outside media sources that appear alongside links to information on Fidelity's products.
The revamp follows recent redesigns at other financial Web sites that are adding more financial news on home pages, and displaying it more prominently in response to growing demand. The number of U.S. households going online for financial news and investing information will grow from 55 million to 72 million by 2014, according to SRI Consulting Business Intelligence.
At Boston-based Fidelity, average daily Web site visits rose more than 50 percent as markets tanked in late September and early October, with more than a quarter million investors accessing the site's news and market data during that period.
In revamping its site, Fidelity plans to prominently feature links to some 600 news stories daily. The links will be continuously updated from 19 outside media sources, including The Associated Press. The redesign also adds personal finance articles from outside publications, commentary from more than 20 personal finance columnists, tools such as calculators and quizzes, and expanded market data.
Fidelity is rolling out the new elements gradually over six months. The project has been in the works for a couple years, but has recently taken on greater immediacy.
"We see the growth in people really looking online for financial information continuing for the next few years," said Sean Belka, a Fidelity senior vice president. "And at the same time, the market conditions recently have driven that trend even further."
Privately held Fidelity isn't disclosing how much it's investing in its Web redesign. Fidelity, like many investment firms, has been hit hard amid the recent market turmoil, which has eroded asset values and the money-management fees that it earns. Last month, Fidelity announced plans to cut 3,000 jobs, or about 7 percent of its work force of more than 44,000.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Really Long Link
By Associated Press
The nation's largest mutual fund company planned Thursday to announce a redesign of http://www.fidelity.com, with a deeper trove of information accessible from the home page. Most of it is news and commentary from outside media sources that appear alongside links to information on Fidelity's products.
The revamp follows recent redesigns at other financial Web sites that are adding more financial news on home pages, and displaying it more prominently in response to growing demand. The number of U.S. households going online for financial news and investing information will grow from 55 million to 72 million by 2014, according to SRI Consulting Business Intelligence.
At Boston-based Fidelity, average daily Web site visits rose more than 50 percent as markets tanked in late September and early October, with more than a quarter million investors accessing the site's news and market data during that period.
In revamping its site, Fidelity plans to prominently feature links to some 600 news stories daily. The links will be continuously updated from 19 outside media sources, including The Associated Press. The redesign also adds personal finance articles from outside publications, commentary from more than 20 personal finance columnists, tools such as calculators and quizzes, and expanded market data.
Fidelity is rolling out the new elements gradually over six months. The project has been in the works for a couple years, but has recently taken on greater immediacy.
"We see the growth in people really looking online for financial information continuing for the next few years," said Sean Belka, a Fidelity senior vice president. "And at the same time, the market conditions recently have driven that trend even further."
Privately held Fidelity isn't disclosing how much it's investing in its Web redesign. Fidelity, like many investment firms, has been hit hard amid the recent market turmoil, which has eroded asset values and the money-management fees that it earns. Last month, Fidelity announced plans to cut 3,000 jobs, or about 7 percent of its work force of more than 44,000.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Really Long Link
By Associated Press
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