InfoUSA, which got a boost last year from its Super Bowl ads, is planning to bulk up its marketing database business again, the company said Wednesday.
But this time it's looking to add a little heft to its mass-mailing business with an acquisition of Direct Media, a Connecticut-based direct marketing company. The companies have signed a definitive agreement and expect to close the deal by the end of the month. Terms were not disclosed.
InfoUSA plans to take Direct Media and operate it as a wholly owned subsidiary. And apparently, InfoUSA has run this game plan before. Over the past decade, it has acquired over 40 companies and operated them as wholly owned subsidiaries, said Stormy Dean, InfoUSA's chief financial officer.
The Direct Media acquisition also feeds into InfoUSA's plans to consolidate the direct marketing industry, InfoUSA Chief Executive Vin Gupta said in a statement.
Information is the new currency. When it comes to social-networking sites and many other online enterprises, your attention is the product that is being sold. So it is not surprising that data mining, particularly efforts to link your online behavior to specific opportunities to market to you, is an exploding trend.
Data mining in itself is not inherently good or bad, but it raises many social issues whose implications we all need to understand and include in our ongoing dialogue. Data mining has benefits, including an opportunity to create a customized online experience that truly serves you better. Misuses can lead to serious breaches of privacy. I encountered several stories on data mining Tuesday that caught my attention.
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