| Type | Privately-held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mobile search, directory assistance, and several other related industries including kgbdeals |
| Predecessor | INFONXX |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Founder(s) | Robert Pines[1] |
| Headquarters | New York City, United States |
| Area served | United States, Canada |
| Key people | Robert Pines - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer |
| Products | 118 118, Texperts, 542542 (kgbkgb) |
| Owner(s) | Robert Pines[1] |
| Subsidiaries | kgb USA, kgb.com, kgbkgb 118//Media, The Number 118 118 118 218 Le Numero 118 50, Conduit Die Nummer 18 18 892 892 Il Numero Conduit, 118 811 Unnamed Canadian service |
| Website | KGB.com KGBUSA.com |
kgb (stylized in lower case) is a privately held, New York-based company that provides directory assistance and enhanced information services across Europe and North America. It describes itself as "the world’s largest independent provider of directory assistance and enhanced information services."[2] Founded in 1992 by Robert Pines under the name INFONXX, the company rebranded in 2008.[1]. The term knowledge generation bureau is from an advertising copy line, and is not the name of the company, which is kgb.
In December 2008, kgb acquired Texperts, a United Kingdom-based firm, in order to benefit from their "innovative software platform and industry experience." Shortly afterwards, in January 2009, kgb launched a new suite of products in the United States, providing answers to customers’ questions through multiple platforms. The first is through a mobile search service known as 542542 (kgbkgb). It launched January 5, 2009, following the launch of the similar 118118 "Ask Us Anything" service in the United Kingdom.
More recently it has entered the internet group buying space with a business called kgbdeals. kgbdeals seeks to offer lifestyle deals to consumers in the US, UK, France and Italy. It is believed to be the third largest such player in the UK, where it has advertised on British television, creating the female characters k,g and b.
542542 is an "Ask Anything 2-way text service", whereby United States customers can submit questions via SMS (text) message for a cost of $1.49 per question.[3] They will then receive another text message containing the answer. Questions are not limited to traditional information assistance, but may cover any facet of knowledge or even speculation.[4] The customer is also responsible for any applicable mobile carrier SMS service fees.
In order to answer questions, the service makes use of both human internet researchers (whom the company refers to as "kgb_ Special Agents") and automated keyword matching. For simpler queries, such as directory assistance, show times, or weather, answers are generated automatically via software that matches keywords in customers' questions to a database. Answers generated this way are then verified by a human before being delivered to the customer.[5] More complex queries are answered entirely by people.
Special Agents are independent contractors working from home, via the internet. They earn 0.10 USD per complete answer, and 0.05 USD per automated answer verification. The company also has quality control personnel, whom the company refers to as Quality Agents, who perform quality reviews and provide feedback. These contractors earn 0.08 USD per standard review, and 0.03 USD per simulator review (a review of a prospective researcher's performance when answering simulated queries).[6]