Toluna– a Paris-based independent online panel and survey technology provider- announced today the completion of the acquisition of market research firm Greenfield Online.
Toluna currently has an online research panel of 2.5 million active members across 30 countries. The firm’s products and services include online market research, surveys, online communities, and survey programming. The firm they have acquired, Greenfield Online was one the first firms to use Internet to conduct market research. Founded in 1994, their services originally consisted of custom research projects and servicing data collection and infrastructure needs for research and consulting companies. In April of 2005, the company significantly expanded their offerings when they bought Ciao Survey-a large independent survey research provider in Europe focused on price shopping comparisons- for approximately $154 million. Three years later Greenfield/ Ciao was acquired by Microsoft for $486 million. Microsoft had planned to sell the Internet Survey Solutions division immediately and keep Ciao’s comparison shopping business. However, the $120 million agreement deal with ZM Capital fell through when ZM Capital failed to meet financing conditions in November of 2008.
Today, less than 12 months later, Toluna finalized the purchase of Greenfield for $40 million. This acquisition places them amongst one of the strongest competitors in the online market research field. Frederic-Charles Petit, Toluna’s founder and chief executive stated– “This is a transformational deal for Toluna. The combined group will have a strong market position and growth prospects in the years ahead.”