Vista Research
Vista Research was one of the pioneers of the expert network industry. Founded in 2001, it grew quickly in tandem with GLG, until it was acquired by S&P in 2005.
At this time, every expert network had a cool name. Whereas GLG had "the GLG Council", Vista ran "the Society of Industry Leaders".
Vista was a high-growth darling of the financial research industry, but soon turned toxic for S&P. In 2007, the New York State Attorney General began investigating Vista and GLG in relation to insider trading probes.
S&P soon sought to divest the company, eventually selling to Guidepoint in 2009 for between $10-13m, booking a $14m loss. The company was merged into Guidepoint, the Vista brand name no longer used.
Vista Research cubs
Vista employees have gone on to start other successful expert networks:
2005 - Primary Insight started as an in-house expert network at Bear Sterns.
2008 - Ridgetop Research
2010 - Mosaic Research
2017 - Askvisory was rebooted by a CEO with a background at Vista.