Information Today
Volume 17, Number 6 • June 2000
infoUSA Acquires idEXEC from Thomson Financial
infoUSA, a provider of proprietary business and consumer databases, database marketing services, and Internet marketing solutions, has announced the acquisition of idEXEC, a Thomson Financial company. idEXEC provides the most comprehensive worldwide database of 60,000 large businesses and 400,000 executives for business-to-business (B2B) prospecting, marketing, and research applications. This represents the richest and most accurate database of global “movers and shakers.” idEXEC has over 300 customers, including the sales and marketing departments of corporations, executive recruiters, management consultants, executive education programs, and select resellers. According to the announcement, idEXEC is a pioneer of online data delivery, and nearly two-thirds of its $5.5 million annual revenues are derived from Internet sales and subscriptions.

idEXEC, established 15 years ago as the Finex unit of Technimetrics, specializes in B2B and Internet-based delivery of comprehensive and accurate contact information on over 400,000 top executive decision makers in 47 different job functions globally. idEXEC is headquartered in New York, with offices throughout the U.S., the U.K., and in Manila, Philippines. More information on idEXEC can be found at the company’s Web site at http://www.idexec.com.

Vin Gupta, chairman and CEO of infoUSA, said: “We are very excited about this combination. Content from idEXEC will enable infoUSA to provide its customers with the most comprehensive and accurate information on their large corporate clients and prospects. This will give our customers who market to the largest companies worldwide access to a much deeper database. infoUSA plans to leverage its core competency in data compilation and product development to quickly double the size of idEXEC’s database to include 120,000 businesses and over 1 million executives. We also intend to take advantage of many cross-selling opportunities to this expanded customer base, as well as to develop the worldwide market for Internet delivery for all of our marketing solutions. This acquisition perfectly fits our strategy of increasing the depth of our content to further enhance the growth of our Internet operations. The best part of this deal is the addition of a seasoned management team who will all be coming on board as part of this transaction.”

Peter Malamas, president of idEXEC, said: “The capabilities that we bring to the table in tracking key executive decision makers globally, and in updating our B2B clients in real time with valuable data via the Internet and e-mail ‘push’ subscription, combined with infoUSA’s market presence and strengths in core data content, services, and Internet distribution partnerships, result in a combination that offers tremendous benefits to both idEXEC and infoUSA clients. We are very pleased to become a part of the infoUSA team.”

Howard Sherman, head of Thomson Financial’s Corporate Group, said: “The decision to divest idEXEC reflects Thomson Financial’s strategy to sharpen our market focus in the financial industry within distinct vertical market groups. While idEXEC has been a successful component of TF’s Corporate Group for a number of years, its core market of sales and marketing professionals is a different target market than the rest of the group.”

Source: infoUSA, Omaha, NE, 402/593-4500; http://www.infousa.com.

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