History

Dun & Bradstreet launches D&B Credit.

A global, cloud-based solution for risk management to support business growth based on reliable facts. Ratings, scores and risk analytics from world’s biggest commercial database  help professionals making the right decisions.

Dun & Bradstreet launches new D&B Direct+ API. A completely new integration that connects your internal systems directly with Dun & Bradstreet’s global database.

Altares launches Dataxess: a master data solution that cleanses and enriches customer data in your CRM. Always rely on high quality customer data in as well Salesforce as Microsoft Dynamics.

Altares acquires the Benelux region of Dun & Bradstreet, which now becomes Altares Dun & Bradstreet Benelux: a local partner of Dun & Bradstreet’s worldwide network. Dun & Bradstreet believes in the power of local partners to quickly anticipate developments and ensure the highest data quality.

 

Dun & Bradstreet adapts a new corporate identity. CEO Bob Carrigan, who joint Dun & Bradstreet in 2013, has the vision to realize long-term growth and modernizes the entire business. Carrigan leads this brand transformation that will be implemented in all products and solutions of Dun & Bradstreet.

Dun & Bradstreet Netherlands moves to the Montevideo Offices in Rotterdam.

Dun & Bradstreet steals the show on the 1st place of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies.

Altares originated in 2006 through a merger between BIL (Base d’Infos Légales) and D&B France. The company kept on growing ever since while the relationships with Dun & Bradstreet was kept incredibly well. Altares remains a part of D&B’s worldwide network, who acknowledges them a lot for their data innovations and solutions for several industries.

Manageo gets acquired by Altares.

A specialist in online B2B-information, Manageo helps growing the turnover of Altares by optimizing their data and online marketing strategy.

Dun & Bradstreet launches DNBi in Amerika.

DNBi is a web based platform that transforms the efficiency of credit management. Powerful, but flexible. DNBi can easily be adjusted to the way customers work. Users have access to Dun & Bradstreet’s global database for all insights they need.

Dun & Bradstreet launches its DUNSright proces among partners worldwide.

Dun & Bradstreet launches a new corporate identity and logo

Dun & Bradstreet acquires iMarket Inc.

The acquisition of iMarket Inc., well-known for its award-winning CD-rom products with marketing data, strengthens Dun & Bradstreet’s ability to provide marketing solutions to small and medium-sized businesses. In addition, iMarket’s data resources improve Dun & Bradstreet’s own world-class database.

“iMarket’s internet and desktop solutions will help us capture our opportunities for small businesses by expanding our offerings to small and medium-sized customers. Dun & Bradstreet also plans to use the zapdata.com tool (now Hoovers) to further migrate our activities to the web,” according to Aldus Allan Loren, Dun & Bradstreet Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President.

Dun & Bradstreet acquires A.C. Nielsen.

Nielsen’s unrivalled status as a leader in marketing research attracted the attention of Dun & Bradstreet Corporation. Arthur C. Nielsen Jr. eventually sold A.C. Nielsen for $1.3 billion.

The two companies had actually been considering such a merger for over 15 years, as Nielsen and Harrington Drake, president and CEO of Dun & Bradstreet, told the New York Times. “We both have the ability to collect a lot of data and deliver it efficiently to customers,” explains Nielsen. “I’m sure Nielsen will use both our technology and our databases,” added Drake.

Dun & Bradstreet ontwikkelt DUNSnet, a telenetwork for the company

Dun & Bradstreet produces the first financial report generated on a ‘mini-computer’.

Dun & Bradstreet publishes its first edition based on a digital database, unique at the time.

Dun & Bradstreet launches the Data Universal Numbering System (D-U-N-S) and takes over its competitor Moody’s.

Dun & Bradstreet moves to its new location on 99 Church Street in New York, next to St. Peter’s Catholic Church.

In the 1930s, the effects of rivalry and economic depression on both companies could no longer be ignored. In 1933, the former arch rivals R.G. Dun & Co and John M. Bradstreet Company merged to form Dun & Bradstreet.

The merger was led by Arthur Whiteside, CEO of R.G. Duns & Co. Thanks to his excellent diplomatic skills, Whiteside was able to make a deal with the company’s biggest competitor. While previously both companies sold “products”, Whiteside began to place increasing emphasis on service, leading D&B out of the depression and information age with great leadership.

Stans Grijseels starts at Dun & Bradstreet in Rotterdam. This is also the year that the office in Rotterdam is opened. He’s still going strong!

R.G. Dun & Company opens its first branch in Amsterdam, followed by offices in Tilburg, Almelo, Haarlem, The Hague and two offices in Rotterdam.

John Moody introduces a series of industrial manuals and eventually launches Moody’s Investor Service in 1914.

A photo of The R.G. Dun Building in New York. It was one of the first buildings with elevators and air conditioning.

R.G. Dun & Company’s office at 618 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia in 1870.

Robert Graham Dun invests $15,000 in a new business printing company, enabling R.G. Dun & Company to publish the Dun Reference Book every six months.

In 1859, Douglass transferred the agency to his brother-in-law Robert Graham Dun. He continued to expand the company under the new name of R.G. Dun & Company, leading it for more than 40 years. Under his direction, the company expanded across the United States, and across national borders.

A strong competitor – and a new player. In 1849, the rival John M. Bradstreet Company was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio. Two years later, the Bradstreet organization launched credit ratings with the publication of its first book of commercial ratings. The rivalry between The John M. Bradstreet Company and Douglass’ agency increased as the US entered the 20th century. This had a fundamental and lasting impact on the fate of the two organizations.

To promote expansion, Tappan transferred the agency to Benjamin Douglass, a former clerk, in 1849. Douglass benefited from the improved transportation and communication of the era by expanding his network of offices, enabling the Agency both to acquire new customers and provide excellent information.

Some of those correspondents later even became Presidents of America: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland and William McKinley.

To assist U.S. traders in their decision-making, an enterprising businessman named Lewis Tappan (1788) began in 1841 to establish a network of correspondents who would act as a source of reliable and objective credit information. His Mercantile Agency, based in New York City, was one of the first organizations to focus exclusively on providing business information to customers.