Dun & Bradstreet

19th century

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.[5] As an advocate for civil rights, Tappan used his abolitionist connections to expand and update the company's credit information.[6]

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.[7]

In 1859, Douglass transferred the company to Robert Graham Dun, who immediately changed the firm's name to R. G. Dun & Company.[8] Over the next 40 years, Graham Dun continued to expand the business across international boundaries.

20th century

In March 1933, R. G. Dun & Company merged with competitor John M. Bradstreet to form today's Dun & Bradstreet.[9][10] The merger was engineered by Dun's CEO, Arthur Whiteside.[11] 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.[11]

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.[12][13] Other companies acquired during this time included R.H. Donnelley, Official Airline Guides, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., Funk & Wagnalls, Technical Publishing, McCormack & Dodge, and Corinthian Broadcasting, all since divested.

In 1986, Dun & Bradstreet acquired the education data company Market Data Retrieval (MDR).[14][15][16][17] That year, Dun & Bradstreet sold Technical Publishing to Cahners Publishing.[18]

In 1996, the company restructured, creating three entities: Dun & Bradstreet, Nielsen, and the Cognizant Corporation.[19] 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.

On July 1, 1998, Dun & Bradstreet split into two companies, one assuming the Dun & Bradstreet name while the other adopted the R.H. Donnelley name.[20]

21st century

In 2000, Dun & Bradstreet spun off Moody's Corporation.[21]

In 2001, Dun & Bradstreet acquired Harris InfoSource International, Inc., a data company. In February 2003, the company acquired Hoover's, a business reporting service.[22]

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.[23][24] In August 2010, Dun & Bradstreet spun off and sold its credit monitoring and management business to a newly formed company, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. In 2007, Dun & Bradstreet acquired AllBusiness.com and sold the company in 2012.[25]

In October 2013, Bob Carrigan became the CEO of Dun & Bradstreet.[26]

On January 5, 2015, Dun & Bradstreet acquired the data management firm NetProspex.[27] 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.[28]

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; at the same time they announced 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.[29]

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.[30]

On July 1, 2020, Dun & Bradstreet re-listed shares on the New York Stock Exchange, once again trading under the ticker symbol DNB.[31]

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 SEK7.2 billion (US$818 million).[32]

On May 20, 2021, Dun & Bradstreet announced its intention to move its global headquarters to Jacksonville, Florida.[33]

In 2024, Dun & Bradstreet integrated business banking and financial tools of Lili into its myD&B platform.[34]

On March 24, 2025, Dun & Bradstreet announced its agreement to be acquired by Clearlake Capital Group for 4.1 billion in cash, in a transaction valued at $7.7 billion, including debt.[35]