Most people meet Dun & Bradstreet the same way: a platform or buyer asks for a DUNS number, and suddenly you’re dealing with a company you’ve never thought about. Knowing where it comes from helps explain why so many global systems trust it, and why a DUNS number looks the way it does. This is the Dun and Bradstreet company history in plain language, checked against the company’s own history pages and public archives.
For a fuller look at the company’s background, you can also read our page on the history of Dun & Bradstreet.
1841: A Credit Agency Is Born in New York
The story starts on July 20, 1841, when Lewis Tappan founded the Mercantile Agency in New York City. According to the Library of Congress, it is often described as the first credit-rating firm. The idea was simple and new: merchants who sold goods on credit had no reliable way to judge whether a distant buyer would pay, so Tappan’s agency collected and sold that information.
Around the same period, a competitor was forming. John M. Bradstreet founded his own company in Cincinnati in 1849, and it became known for publishing commercial credit ratings in book form.
1859: Enter R.G. Dun
Tappan handed the Mercantile Agency to Benjamin Douglass in the late 1840s. In 1859 Robert Graham Dun took it over and renamed it R.G. Dun & Company. Under that name the firm grew into one of the largest credit-reporting businesses in the United States, and it competed directly with the Bradstreet Company for decades.
1933: Two Rivals Become One
In 1933, R.G. Dun & Company merged with the Bradstreet Company to form Dun & Bradstreet. The combined business brought two long-running credit-information databases together, which is the origin of the name you see today.
The 1960s: Moody’s and the DUNS Number
Two things from this era matter to anyone reading this guide.
Moody’s: D&B acquired Moody’s in 1962. It later spun Moody’s off as a separate company in 2000.
The D-U-N-S Number: In 1963, D&B introduced the Data Universal Numbering System. The Library of Congress notes that it began as a seven-digit system, and it later became the nine-digit identifier we use today. The purpose was practical: business names are messy, with similar names, spelling variations and branches, so a unique number gave each business a stable identity in the database.
That original idea still explains why platforms ask for a DUNS number. It is a way to confirm that “this business” in one system is the same business in another.
Late 20th Century: Restructuring and Growth
D&B spent the following decades acquiring and divesting businesses. In 1996 it restructured into three separate entities: Dun & Bradstreet, Nielsen, and Cognizant Corporation. Moody’s was spun off in 2000, leaving D&B focused on commercial data and analytics.
D&B in India
The company began operations in India in 1995, according to D&B India’s own history page. A few milestones from that timeline:
- 1999: a five-year alliance with the Bombay Stock Exchange began
- 2001: CIBIL was established with TransUnion, SBI and HDFC Bank (D&B later exited CIBIL in 2011)
- 2005: the India database passed 1 million records, and SMERA was established with SIDBI
- 2024: the India database reached 40 million records
- 2025: an MOU with NSIC was signed to support MSMEs
For an Indian business, this matters because it shows that D&B isn’t a new foreign company arriving to sell something. It has been building Indian business records for three decades, which is part of why GST, MCA and other Indian registration details are useful when D&B verifies your DUNS application.
The 2000s: Data Becomes the Product
D&B bought Hoover’s, a business-information service, in 2003 and AllBusiness.com in 2007. Its business shifted from printed credit reports to data and analytics sold to companies for risk management, sales and compliance. That is also where D&B earns its money, which is why standard DUNS number registration itself has stayed free.
2019 to 2025: Private, Public, Private Again
The most recent chapters involve ownership, and they’re easy to get wrong.
- February 8, 2019: an investor group completed the acquisition, and D&B became privately held.
- July 2020: D&B listed on the New York Stock Exchange again under the ticker DNB, after pricing its IPO on June 30.
- August 26, 2025: Clearlake Capital completed its acquisition of Dun & Bradstreet, and the company became privately held again.
We cover this properly in our guide, Who Owns Dun & Bradstreet?, including what the change does and doesn’t mean for your DUNS number.
A Recent Change Worth Knowing: DUNS and US Federal Contracting
If you’ve read older articles, you may have seen the DUNS number described as a requirement for US federal contracts. That changed in April 2022, when the US government replaced the DUNS number with the Unique Entity ID (UEI) generated in SAM.gov. DUNS numbers remain widely used for platform verification, supplier checks and credit data, but not as the federal contracting identifier.
What This History Means for You
A few practical takeaways:
- A DUNS number is a commercial identifier, not a government one: D&B is a private company with a long record in business data.
- The number exists to identify businesses reliably: That’s why your legal name and address must match your records exactly.
- D&B’s Indian presence is long-standing: Your Indian registration details are part of the records it checks against.
- Ownership changes haven’t altered how DUNS numbers work: Existing numbers remain valid.
Want Your DUNS Number as Soon as Possible? Connect With DUNS Assist
If you’d rather not wait through the standard timeline, contact DUNS Assist. We help you and consult you through the entire process, aiming to get your DUNS number in as little as 24 hours. We are an independent service and are not affiliated with Dun & Bradstreet.
When was Dun & Bradstreet founded?
Its earliest form, the Mercantile Agency, was founded by Lewis Tappan in New York City on July 20, 1841.
When did the DUNS number start?
D&B introduced the D-U-N-S Number in 1963. It began as a seven-digit system and later became the nine-digit number used today.
How did Dun & Bradstreet get its name?
It comes from the 1933 merger of R.G. Dun & Company and the Bradstreet Company, two long-running credit-reporting rivals.
When did Dun & Bradstreet start operating in India?
D&B India’s history page says operations began in India in 1995.
Is Dun & Bradstreet still a public company?
No. After Clearlake Capital completed its acquisition in August 2025, D&B became privately held again.