Ariel Investments is a Chicago-based money management firm with a historic specialty in small and mid-capitalization U.S. equities. Since our founding by John W. Rogers, Jr. and SEC registration in January 1983, we have grown from 2 to 70 employees with $5.1 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2009. Our equity separate account strategies invest in undervalued U.S. companies by applying patience, focus and independent thinking to our investment decisions. We have managed small cap value portfolios since the firm’s inception and our mid cap value style was introduced in 1989. In 2005, we launched our focused value strategy, which is comprised of a limited number of mid-to-large cap stocks, and just recently we added a micro-cap value offering targeting companies under $500 million in market capitalization.

In addition to managing separate accounts for corporate, public, union and non-profit organizations, Ariel Investments also serves as the investment adviser to our publicly-traded, no-load mutual funds. Our flagship Ariel Fund represents the firm’s small/mid-cap value strategy, Ariel Appreciation Fund is managed with a pure mid-cap value strategy, and Ariel Focus Fund concentrates on medium-to-large cap value companies.

Patience serves as the core of our investment philosophy. The firm was built around the belief that patient investors will be rewarded and that long-term success can be created by investing in quality companies, selling at excellent prices whose true value would be realized over time. Given our commitment to identifying and realizing long-term value, it makes perfect sense that we have adopted the Tortoise, the victor in Aesop’s timeless fable, as our symbol, and the fable’s moral—slow and steady wins the race—as our motto.

Controlling interest of the firm is owned by John W. Rogers, Jr. and his family. However, as we feel that it is important to create an environment where employees share in both the rewards and responsibilities of ownership, Ariel’s employees also have an equity interest in the firm through restricted stock offerings, stock grant and stock option programs. As such, Ariel employees own a combined total of 85.3% of the firm as of December 31, 2009. Remaining shares of Ariel Investments are owned by company directors and outside shareholders who helped finance the firm’s initial start-up costs and ongoing business development.

 

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