What is the difference between Fame, Amadeus and Orbis databases?
Bureau van Dijk Fame and Orbis are two databases which provide financial coverage of private and quoted companies and their directors. As of 30 November 2022, Amadeus was retired. See also Capital IQ.
- Fame includes all companies registered in the UK and Ireland (over 3 million companies).
- Orbis includes all companies of all sizes around the world.
- You can access much of Orbis via WRDS.
- Amadeus covered all very large and large companies in Europe (except banks), defined as satisfying at least one of the following criteria:
- Turnover ≥ €10 million;
- Total assets ≥ €20 million;
- Employees ≥ 150.
A key difference is historical coverage. Fame has 20 years of financial history whereas Orbis has 10. There also key variables which are exclusive to Fame and UK-based companies, such as VAT numbers and import & export commodities (similar for Ireland). Further, companies in Amadeus were deleted if inactive for 4-6 years, creating survivorship bias; this is not the case with Fame and Orbis.
