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Iconoculture Sold
Iconoculture, the Minneapolis-based consumer research company known for its 'dig deep' approach to trend spotting, has been acquired by Corporate Executive Board (CEB) for more than $15m.
Iconoculture announced European expansion plans in November, and says the sale will help accelerate this process, which according to CEO Dan Frawley was proving 'very slow and expensive'.
CEB, whose strap line is 'What the Best Companies Do', offers its members information, support and strategies in major corporate areas such as Finance, Sales & Marketing and Legal compliance. CEO Thomas Monahan comments: 'Iconoculture's unique, highly renewable model for supplying data and insight about consumer behaviour - and their great team - will compliment and enrich our already strong Sales and Marketing practice area.'
CEB announced the purchase three days after their financial results for the first quarter, which showed revenues down from $117.4m in Q1 2009 to $100.2m in Q1 2010 along with an 11% decline in net income to $11.6m - it blames factors including macro-economic conditions and a decline in membership. Monahan says the firm is 'off to a solid start in 2010'.
Iconoculture's change of ownership comes hot on the heels of the departure of founders Vickie Abrahamson and Mary Meehan to form Panoramix Global.
Iconoculture recently formed a joint venture with Dapresy. Web sites are at www.executiveboard.com and www.iconoculture.com .
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