If you’re applying for a DUNS number, it’s natural to wonder who is actually behind the company that issues it. Is it a government body? A listed company? A private firm? The answer has changed more than once in the last few years, and a lot of articles online still describe an older ownership structure. This guide sets out the current picture, based on the companies’ own announcements and press coverage, and explains what it does and doesn’t mean for your DUNS application.
For the longer story of how the company began, see our companion page on the history of Dun & Bradstreet.
The Short Answer
Dun & Bradstreet is owned by Clearlake Capital Group, a private investment firm based in Santa Monica, California. Clearlake completed its acquisition of Dun & Bradstreet Holdings on August 26, 2025, in a deal valued at about $7.7 billion including debt. Dun & Bradstreet is now a privately held company and is no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
It is not a government agency, and it has never been one. That distinction matters for how you think about a DUNS number, which we come back to below.
How the Clearlake Deal Happened
The key dates, as reported in the company’s and Clearlake’s announcements:
- March 24, 2025: Dun & Bradstreet announced it had agreed to be acquired by Clearlake in a deal valued at $7.7 billion, with an equity value of roughly $4.1 billion.
- June 12, 2025: Dun & Bradstreet’s shareholders approved the transaction.
- August 26, 2025: Clearlake announced the completion of the acquisition. Shareholders received $9.15 in cash for each share, and the stock was delisted from the NYSE.
Cannae Holdings, which had been Dun & Bradstreet’s largest shareholder with about 13.5% of the stock, publicly supported the deal. The financing was arranged by a group of lenders including Ares Capital Management, Morgan Stanley, Golub Capital, Blue Owl Credit and Clearlake itself.
Clearlake describes itself as a global investment firm managing more than $90 billion in assets across private equity, private credit and related strategies.
Who Owned It Before Clearlake
Understanding the earlier chapters helps explain why you’ll see different answers online.
2019 take-private: In February 2019, an investor group acquired Dun & Bradstreet and took it private. The group was led by Cannae Holdings (whose chairman is Bill Foley), together with CC Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners.
2020 IPO: Dun & Bradstreet returned to the public markets in July 2020, listing on the NYSE at $22 per share.
2021 headquarters move: The company moved its headquarters to Jacksonville, Florida, where it remains based.
2025 sale to Clearlake: The share price at the time of the sale was well below the IPO price, which is one reason the deal drew attention in the business press.
So if you read that Dun & Bradstreet is “a publicly traded company,” that information is out of date. If you read that it is owned by Cannae or by the 2019 investor group, that’s also a previous chapter.
A Company With a Very Long History
Ownership aside, Dun & Bradstreet has a much longer story than most data companies. It traces its origins to 1841, when Lewis Tappan founded a credit-reporting business in the United States. Over the following century and a half it grew into one of the best-known names in commercial credit and business data.
The DUNS numbering system came much later, in the 20th century, as a way to give businesses a unique, standardised identifier that could be used across databases.
Our history page covers this in more detail.
Does the Change in Ownership Affect Your DUNS Number?
This is the question most applicants actually care about, so here is a careful answer.
Your existing DUNS number is not affected by who owns the company: A DUNS number identifies your business in D&B’s database. A change of ownership at the parent-company level doesn’t cancel, renumber or invalidate numbers already issued.
Standard registration has stayed free as far as we can tell: None of the acquisition announcements we reviewed describe any change to how DUNS numbers are requested or issued. That said, we haven’t seen any official statement about future pricing or process changes, so we’d always recommend checking D&B’s own website for the current process before you apply.
Platforms still verify through D&B: Apple Developer, Google Play Console, Microsoft Partner Center and similar platforms continue to check DUNS records. The source of the data is D&B’s database, regardless of who owns the company behind it.
Why Ownership Doesn’t Make a DUNS Number “Government” or “Official”
It’s common for applicants to assume a DUNS number is a government registration. It isn’t. Dun & Bradstreet is a private business, and a DUNS number is a commercial identifier. It sits alongside your government-issued identifiers, such as GST, PAN or CIN in India, rather than replacing them. If you want the full comparison, see our guides on DUNS number vs GST number and DUNS number vs company registration number.
This also explains why legitimate DUNS registration happens through D&B directly, and why you should be cautious about any website that presents itself as a government portal for DUNS numbers.
What This Means If You’re Applying From India
For an Indian business, the practical steps haven’t changed because of the ownership news:
- Check whether you already have a DUNS number: using D&B’s official free lookup tool.
- Apply through D&B’s official website: using your exact legal business name and registered address.
- Provide your GST, PAN or CIN: where the application asks for a tax or registration identifier.
- Wait for verification: which typically takes up to 30 business days for the standard free process.
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 owned by or affiliated with Dun & Bradstreet or Clearlake.