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Dun & Bradstreet

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Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc.
Company typePublic
IndustryCommercial & professional services
FoundedJuly 20, 1841; 183 years ago (1841-07-20) (as The Mercantile Agency)
March 1933 (as R.G. Dun-Bradstreet)
Founders
HeadquartersJacksonville, Florida, U.S.[1]
Key people
Products
RevenueIncrease US$2.31 billion (2023)
Decrease US$140 million (2023)
Decrease US$−47 million (2023)
Total assetsDecrease US$9.14 billion (2023)
Total equityDecrease US$3.42 billion (2023)
Number of employees
6,414 (2023)
Websitewww.dnb.com Edit this at Wikidata
Footnotes / references
[2]

The Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc. is an American company that provides commercial data, analytics, and insights for businesses.[3] Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company offers a wide range of products and services for risk and financial analysis, operations and supply, and sales and marketing professionals, as well as research and insights on global business issues. It serves customers in government and industries such as communications, technology, strategic financial services, and retail, telecommunications, and manufacturing markets.[4] Often referred to as D&B, the company's database contains over 500 million business records worldwide.[5]

History

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1800s

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Dun & Bradstreet traces its history to July 20, 1841, with formation of The Mercantile Agency in New York City by Lewis Tappan. Recognizing the need for a centralized credit reporting system, Tappan formed the company to create a network of correspondents who would provide reliable, objective credit information to subscribers.[6] As an advocate for civil rights, Tappan used his abolitionist connections to expand and update the company's credit information.[7]

Despite accusations of personal privacy invasion, by 1844 the Mercantile Agency had over 280 clients. The agency continued to expand, opening offices in Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. By 1849, Tappan retired, allowing Benjamin Douglass to take over the booming business.[8]

In 1859, Douglass transferred the company to Robert Graham Dun, who immediately changed the firm's name to R. G. Dun & Company.[9] Over the next 40 years, Graham Dun continued to expand the business across international boundaries.

1900s

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In March 1933, R. G. Dun & Company merged with competitor John M. Bradstreet to form today's Dun & Bradstreet.[10][11] The merger was engineered by Dun's CEO, Arthur Whiteside.[12] Whiteside's successor, J. Wilson Newman, worked to extend the company's range of products and services, expanding the company dramatically during the 1960s by engineering ways to apply new technologies to evolving operations.[12]

Moody's, a credit reporting agency, was acquired by Dun & Bradstreet in 1962. The Dun & Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (D&B D-U-N-S Number) was invented in 1963.[13][14] Other companies acquired during this time included R.H. Donnelley, Official Airline Guides, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., Funk & Wagnalls, Technical Publishing, and McCormack & Dodge, all since divested.[citation needed]

In 1986, Dun & Bradstreet acquired the education data company Market Data Retrieval (MDR).[15][16][17][18] That year, Dun & Bradstreet sold Technical Publishing to Cahners Publishing.[19]

In 1996, the company restructured, creating three entities: Dun & Bradstreet, Nielsen, and the Cognizant Corporation.[20] Cognizant Corporation included Nielsen TV Ratings, Gartner Group, Clarke-O'Neill, Erisco, and several other lesser known entities. In 1999, Cognizant Corporation spun off Nielsen TV Ratings and shortly thereafter divested all its holdings, emerging as IMS Health. IMS Health continued to hold its prize incubator company that is today known as Cognizant Corporation.[citation needed]

On July 1, 1998, Dun & Bradstreet split into two companies, one assuming the Dun & Bradstreet name, while the other adopting the R.H. Donnelley name.[21]

2000s

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In 2000, Dun & Bradstreet spun off Moody's Corporation.[22]

In 2001, Dun & Bradstreet acquired Harris InfoSource International, Inc., a data company. In February 2003, the company acquired Hoover's, a business reporting service.[23]

On February 5, 2003, Dun & Bradstreet restated prior period results to correct timing errors in recognizing some of the revenue associated with 14 of the company's 200+ products, after reviewing its revenue recognition from 1997 through 2002.[24][25] In August 2010, Dun & Bradstreet spun off and sold its credit monitoring and management business to a newly formed company, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.[citation needed] In 2007, Dun & Bradstreet acquired AllBusiness.com and sold the company in 2012.[26]

In October 2013, Bob Carrigan became the CEO of Dun & Bradstreet.[27]

On January 5, 2015, Dun & Bradstreet acquired the data management firm NetProspex.[28] In April 2015, Dun & Bradstreet acquired Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. and announced the formation of a new division, Dun & Bradstreet Emerging Business. In January 2017, Dun & Bradstreet acquired Avention, the maker of OneSource solutions.[29]

On August 8, 2018, Dun & Bradstreet announced the appointment of Thomas J. Manning, who had served as the company's interim CEO, as its new Chief Executive Officer, and that the company had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an investor group led by CC Capital, Cannae Holdings, and Thomas H. Lee Partners.[30]

On February 8, 2019, the investor group completed the acquisition of Dun & Bradstreet and it became a privately held company. Its former ticker symbol, DNB, was retired.[31]

On July 1, 2020, Dun & Bradstreet re-listed shares on the New York Stock Exchange, once again trading under the ticker symbol DNB.[32]

In January 2021 Dun & Bradstreet acquired Bisnode Business Information Group AB (“Bisnode”), a European data and analytics firm and long-standing member of the Dun & Bradstreet Worldwide Network, for an enterprise value of 7.2 billion kr (US$818 million).[33]

On May 20, 2021, Dun & Bradstreet announced its intention to move its global headquarters to Jacksonville, Florida.[1]

Operations

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The company generates revenue through subscription-based products, business information reports, data licensing agreements, strategic partnerships, and concierge services.[3]

The company derives revenues through two segments: Americas, and non-Americas.

Americas consists of:

  • The United States and Canada[34]
  • (The company divested its Latin America operations in September 2016)[35]

Non-Americas consists of:

  • Europe
  • The United Kingdom
  • Ireland
  • Greater China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan)
  • India
  • (Netherlands and Belgium operations were divested in November 2016)[35]
  • (Australian and New Zealand operations were divested in June 2015 to Archer Capital for $169.8 million and were rebranded as illion in 2018, with debt collection operations being formally rebranded as Milton Graham on 14 June 2018)[35][36][37][38]

Products and services

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Dun & Bradstreet offers various products and services solving for credit, risk, marketing, sales, analytics, and more, including D&B Hoovers,[4][39][40] Master Data,[41] and D&B Data Exchange.[42]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Large data and analytics company moving global headquarters from New Jersey to Jacksonville". www.news4jax.com. May 20, 2021.
  2. ^ "US SEC: Form 10-K The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 22, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Dun & Bradstreet Ushers in a New Era". Yahoo Finance. March 10, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-03-16. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  4. ^ a b "Profile - Dun & Bradstreet Corp". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  5. ^ "400M Businesses! A B2B Data First!". www.dnb.com. November 5, 2020. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  6. ^ "History of the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation- Funding Universe". Funding Universe. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  7. ^ "Who Made America? Innovators Lewis Tappan". PBS. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  8. ^ "Who Made America? | Innovators | Lewis Tappan". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  9. ^ "Dun & Bradstreet: This Month in Business History". Library of Congress. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  10. ^ Hightower, Michael J. (2013). Banking in Oklahoma Before Statehood. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 345. ISBN 9780806150260. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  11. ^ Terrell, Ellen. "Dun & Bradstreet: This Month in Business History". Business Reference Services. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 2018-11-23. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  12. ^ a b "Dun and Bradstreet Company History". dnb.com. Archived from the original on 2015-12-18. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  13. ^ "Dun & Bradstreet: This Month in Business History (Business Reference Services, Library of Congress)". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  14. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions for D-U-N-S Number and SAM Registration". United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  15. ^ "FTC Challenges Dun & Bradstreet's Purchase of Competing Education Data Provider". Federal Trade Commission. 2010-05-07. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  16. ^ Veronica Anderson (January 15, 1996). "Nielsen Exits D&B A Weakened Brand;Spinoff Alone Will Not Solve Unit's Problems". Crain's Chicago Business.
  17. ^ "Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation History". Funding Universe. 2004.
  18. ^ Kenneth N. Gilpin (December 16, 1999). "Dun & Bradstreet Will Spin Off Moody's". The New York Times.
  19. ^ "Dun & Bradstreet to Sell Technical Publishing Concerns". Associated Press.
  20. ^ "Learn About Our Company History". www.dnb.com. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  21. ^ "Dun & Bradstreet To Split Yellow Pages From Financial Unit". Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition. New York, N.Y., United States. 1997-12-18. pp. –2. ISSN 0099-9660. ProQuest 398646169. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  22. ^ Max, Kevin (15 December 1999). "Dun & Bradstreet to Spin Off Moody's Unit". TheStreet. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  23. ^ "History of The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  24. ^ "D&B Reports 2002 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results - The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation". investor.dnb.com. Archived from the original on 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  25. ^ "D&B Restated Prior Period Results". dnb.com. Archived from the original on 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2013-10-27.
  26. ^ Nicole, Kristen (December 4, 2007). "Dun & Bradstreet Acquires AllBusiness.com for $55M". Mashable.
  27. ^ "Bob Carrigan Named CEO of Dun & Bradstreet". Folio. 2013-09-11. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
  28. ^ Shields, Mike (2015-01-08). "Dun & Bradstreet Acquires Data Management Firm NetProspex". WSJ. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  29. ^ "Dun & Bradstreet acquires Avention". Reuters. January 10, 2017. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  30. ^ "Dun & Bradstreet to go private for $5.38 billion". cnbc.com. August 9, 2018. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  31. ^ "Dun & Bradstreet is now a private company". dnb.com. February 8, 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  32. ^ "Dun & Bradstreet Announces Pricing Of Initial Public Offering". dnb.com. June 30, 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  33. ^ "Dun & Bradstreet Completes Acquisition of Bisnode, a Leading European Data & Analytics Business". Businesswire.com. January 11, 2021. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  34. ^ "Dun & Bradstreet Corp (DNB)". Reuters. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  35. ^ a b c "10-K: DUN & BRADSTREET CORP/NW". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on 2017-09-16. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  36. ^ "Company Overview of illion". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  37. ^ "illion is now formally integrating our subsidiaries to deliver an even more cohesive suite of solutions to you". rebrand.illion.com.au/home. illion Australia Pty. Ltd. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  38. ^ "It with great excitement that we announce our new receivables optimisation brand: Milton Graham". rebrand.illion.com.au/milton-graham. illion Australia Pty. Ltd. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  39. ^ "Dun & Bradstreet looks to clean up with D&B Hoovers | DBM | Database Marketing". www.dbm.today. March 8, 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  40. ^ "Company Overview of Hoover's, Inc". Bloomberg Businessweek. September 16, 2014. Archived from the original on January 16, 2008.
  41. ^ "Economic growth to remain subdued at 6.6% in Q4 FY17: D&B report". The Financial Express. 2017-05-23. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  42. ^ Clemens, Jay (July 29, 2013). "D&B Launches New Data Exchange for Clients, Partners; Josh Peirez, Laura Kelly Comment". ExecutiveBiz. Archived from the original on 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
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