Dun & Bradstreet

"D&B" redirects here. For other uses, see D&B (disambiguation).
Dun & Bradstreet
Public
Traded as NYSE: DNB
S&P 500 Component
Founded New York City, New York 1841
Headquarters Short Hills, New Jersey, U.S.
Key people
 Robert Carrigan, Chairman & CEO
Products Business information, information technology, services, research, software
Revenue
  • Decrease US$ 1,655.2 million (2013) [1]
  • Decrease US$ 1,663.0 million (2012) [1]
  • Increase US$ 437.1 million (2013) [1]
  • Increase US$ 432.1 million (2012) [1]
  • Decrease US$ 258.5 million (2013) [1]
  • Increase US$ 295.5 million (2012) [1]
Total assets
  • Decrease US$ 1,890.3 million (2013) [2]
  • Increase US$ 1,991.8 million (2012) [1]
Total equity
  • Decrease US$ -1,042.3 million (2013) [2]
  • Decrease US$ -1,014.3 million (2012) [2]
Number of employees
 4,600 (2012)[3]
Website www.dnb.com

Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (NYSE: DNB) is an American public company headquartered in Short Hills, a community in Millburn, New Jersey, US[4] that provides commercial data to businesses on credit history, business-to-business sales and marketing, counterparty risk exposure, supply chain management, lead scoring and social identity matching.[5] Often referred to as D&B, the company’s database contains information on more than 235 million companies across 200 countries worldwide.[3] Dun & Bradstreet has been listed on the Fortune 500 and was one of the first companies to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.[6][7]

History

Dun & Bradstreet traces its history back to July 20, 1841, with the formation of The Mercantile Agency in New York City by Lewis Tappan, later called R.G. Dun & Company.[8] The company was formed to create a network of correspondents who would provide reliable, objective credit information. In 1933, Dun merged with competitor John M. Bradstreet to form today's Dun & Bradstreet.[9] The Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) was invented in 1962.[10]

On February 5, 2003, Dun & Bradstreet restated prior period results to correct timing errors in the recognition of some of the revenue associated with 14 of the Company's 200+ products, after a review of its revenue recognition from 1997 through 2002.[11]

Operations

Dun & Bradstreet maintains a database of over 240 million companies globally[3] and over 100 million professional contact names using a variety of sources including public records, trade references, telco providers, telephone interviews, print, digital and trade publications, among others.[12] The company derives revenues through subscriptions as well as pay-per-business report, and to a smaller extent, third-party licensing agreements. Additional revenue is derived from business subsidiaries including Hoover's.[13]

Legal

The FTC has filed suit against Dun & Bradstreet for seeking a monopoly on educational databases.[14] The General Services Administration has suggested that Dun & Bradstreet's monopoly on company registration numbers needed to do business with the United States Federal government has led to an increase in its costs.[15][16]

In December, 2012, O&R Construction LLC accused Dun & Bradstreet of "conspiring to use high pressure sales tactics to create a monopoly in the small business credit reporting market."[17] This case was dismissed in August, 2013 by U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly citing lack of evidence.[18] In January, 2014, the same district court judge ruled that an amended class action suit may go forward. This suit apparently alleges that Dun & Bradstreet orchestrates "a scheme to falsify credit reports in order to defame and cause significant harm to small businesses." [19]

On March 4, 2015, Tranis Cates and Andrew Allison filed a lawsuit against Dun & Bradstreet, alleging "the company called the consumers and businesses without receiving prior permission to make those calls."[20] A website has been set up to track lawsuits against Dun & Bradstreet.[21]

Spin-offs

In August 2010, Dun & Bradstreet spun off and sold their credit monitoring and management business to a newly formed company, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.[22] The company previously spun off ACNielsen (1996),[23] Cognizant Technology Solutions (1996),[24] Moody's (1999)[25] and AllBusiness.com (2012).[26] Dun & Bradstreet also owns the business research corporation Hoover's.[27]

Products and services

Dun & Bradstreet products and services fall three main categories: finance solutions (credit and risk management), operations solutions (supply chain management) and sales and marketing solutions (Hoover's, lead generation, API-integrated corporate, social media and third-party information and DaaS tools).[5][28]

Risk management products include the Business Information Report, Comprehensive Report, D&B Direct and the DNBi platform, often offered to listed participants as a way to improve their rating. These solutions provide current and historical business information primarily used for third party marketing.[29]

Sales and marketing products such as the DUNS Market Identifier database, Optimizer, D&B 360 and D&B Professional Contacts provide sales and marketing professionals with business data for both prospecting and CRM activity. In the DNBi platform customers can view ECF reports, decision based on data, view alerts.[30][31]

International branches

Dun & Bradstreet has offices in five continents – North and South America, Australia, Asia and Europe.[32] The company has had offices in Australia since 1887, Mexico since 1896, New Zealand since 1903, Argentina since 1911, Venezuela since 1920, Brazil since 1933 and Peru since 1981. The company’s core office locations are in the US and Canada, Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Brazil and Australia.[12][33] It has several offices in India as well, with its head office in Mumbai.[34]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "DUN & BRADSTREET CORP/NW 2013 Annual Report Form (10-K)" (XBRL). United States Securities and Exchange Commission. February 28, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "DUN & BRADSTREET CORP/NW 2014 Q1 Quarterly Report Form (10-Q)" (XBRL). United States Securities and Exchange Commission. May 7, 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Dun & Bradstreet Corp/NW - Form 10-K - February 28, 2013" (PDF). secdatabase.com. Retrieved 2013-03-29.
  4. ↑ "About Us." Dun & Bradstreet. Retrieved on October 1, 2012. "HQ info: 103 John F. Kennedy Parkway Short Hills, NJ 07078"
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Profile - Dun & Bradstreet Corp.". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Dun & Bradstreet". Fortune. 2006.
  7. ↑ "Public companies 100 years old or more" (PDF). USA Today. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  8. ↑ "R.G. Dun & Co. / Dun & Bradstreet Collections". Harvard Business School. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  9. ↑ Hightower, Michael J. (2013). Banking in Oklahoma Before Statehood. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 345. ISBN 9780806150260. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions for D-U-N-S Number and SAM Registration". United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  11. ↑ "D&B Restated Prior Period Results".
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Dun & Bradstreet Corp". Bloomberg Businessweek. September 16, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Summary - DNB Financial Corp. (DNBF)". Yahoo Finance. September 16, 2014.
  14. ↑ Shwiff, Kathy (May 7, 2010). "FTC Sues Dun & Bradstreet Over Deal". online.wsj.com (Dow Jones & Company, Inc.). Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  15. ↑ "Government Is Analyzing Alternatives for Contractor Identification Numbers."
  16. ↑ Gordon, Neil (9 September 2014). "Federal Spending Watchdog Pulls the Plug on DUNS". www.pogo.org (POGO). Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  17. ↑ Gold, Django (December 14, 2012). "Dun & Bradstreet Exploits Credit Monopoly, Suit Says". www.law360.com (Law 360). Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  18. ↑ Dan Prochilo (August 28, 2013). "Dun & Bradstreet Cleared Of Fraud Claims In Class Suit". www.law360.com (Law 360). Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "Victory for Small Businesses Accusing Dun & Bradstreet of Defamation". www.globenewswire.com (Globe News Wire). January 21, 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  20. ↑ "Class action says Dun & Bradstreet called numbers on Do Not Call Registry". www.legalnewsline.com (Legal News Line Journal). January 21, 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  21. ↑ "D&B Litigation". Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. Announces $100M Strategic Acquisition; Company Secures $100M of Additional Financing". MarketWire. July 29, 2010.
  23. ↑ Veronica Anderson (January 15, 1996). "Nielsen Exits D&B A Weakened Brand;Spinoff Alone Will Not Solve Unit's Problems". Crain's Chicago Business.
  24. ↑ "Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation History". Funding Universe. 2004.
  25. ↑ Kenneth N. Gilpin (December 16, 1999). "Dun & Bradstreet Will Spin Off Moody's". The New York Times.
  26. ↑ Kristen Nicole (December 4, 2007). "Dun & Bradstreet Acquires AllBusiness.com for $55M". Mashable.
  27. ↑ Anupreeta Das (July 31, 2012). "Dun & Bradstreet Explores Sale". The Wall Street Journal.
  28. ↑ "Company Overview of Hoover's, Inc.". Bloomberg Businessweek. September 16, 2014.
  29. ↑ "D&B Direct for Sales & Marketing". Dun & Bradstreet. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  30. ↑ Larence, Eileen R. (2011). ACORN: Federal Funding and Monitoring. DIANE Publishing. p. 49. ISBN 9781437987560. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  31. ↑ "D&B Launches D&B360TM, Expanding Data Leadership into Data-as-a-Service Solutions". Business Wire. September 14, 2010.
  32. ↑ "Global Customer Service Centers". Dun & Bradstreet. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
  33. ↑ "D&B Worldwide Network". Dun & Bradstreet. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
  34. ↑ "Dun & Bradstreet Australia - Company profile". Retrieved 2011-08-07.

External links