Dun & Bradstreet Corporation

Dun & Bradstreet Corporation

Founded in 1841, Dun & Bradstreet originated as the Mercantile Agency in New York, a credit-reporting network created by Lewis Tappan to provide business information to merchants. The firm was taken public in 2000, later acquired by a private consortium led by CC Capital, Cannae Holdings, and Thomas H. Lee Partners in a 2019 transaction valued at roughly $6.9 billion, before returning to public markets via a direct listing in 2020. William P. Foley II has served as Executive Chairman since the 2019 take-private, with Anthony Jabbour assuming the CEO role, previously leading Black Knight, Inc. The firm operates a proprietary global commercial database covering hundreds of millions of public and private entities, licensing these assets to enterprise clients for credit risk, compliance, sales, and supply-chain analytics. Dun & Bradstreet deploys capital through a corporate venture arm targeting early- and growth-stage companies in data management, alternative lending, regtech, and cybersecurity. The firm maintains a direct balance-sheet investment posture and participates in select co-investments alongside its private equity sponsors. Geographic coverage spans the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, with operational footprints in Jacksonville, London, and Short Hills. In March 2025, Clearlake Capital Group signed a definitive agreement to acquire Dun & Bradstreet for $7.7 billion, including the assumption of debt, taking the company private for a second time in six years. Cannae Holdings and Thomas H. Lee Partners — original members of the 2019 investor consortium — backed the transaction, with William P. Foley II remaining involved through the ownership transition. The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation Foundation, established as a separate philanthropic vehicle, directs charitable giving toward education and economic development in the communities where the firm operates. Dun & Bradstreet sits at the intersection of operating company and financial sponsor portfolio asset, a structure that influences its capital-allocation decisions. Its corporate venture investments support the core data business by identifying tuck-in technology acquisitions that can augment the existing commercial-data stack, rather than functioning as a standalone return-seeking vehicle — a posture distinct from a traditional single family office or pension fund.