Microsoft to sell Greenfield Online's internet survey solutions to ZM Capital

11 September 2008

Within a fortnight of its Greenfield acuisition, Microsoft Corp has signed a deal to divest  the Greenfield Online Internet survey solutions (ISS) business to ZM Surveys LLC, an entity affiliated with private equity firm ZM Capital L.P, making it the PS firm's first portfolio investment. 

It had acquired Grenfield, parent firm of the European shopping and price comparison site Ciao on 29 August to strengthen its search and e-commerce services in Europe, in an all-cash $486-million deal (See: Microsoft to acquire price comparison site Ciao's parent, Greenfield Online).

At the time of announcing the Greenfield acquisition, Microsoft had planned to split up Greenfield Online and sell off the internet survey business that Greenfield owns, while Ciao's technology platform, online community and extensive merchant relationships were to be integrated within its own Live Search platform.

ZM Capital plans to keep the Greenfield Online ISS business as a stand-alone, independent, privately held company.

ISS collects, organises and sells consumer and business professional data in the form of diverse and demographically representative survey responses and targets them at approximately 2,500 full-service marketing research and consulting firms and large international marketing research companies worldwide.

ISS manages Internet panels, including the Greenfield Online panel in the United States and Canada and the Ciao Survey panels in Europe and other countries in Asia and Latin America, and provides solutions via its Real-Time Sampling capability that recruits survey takers across the Internet in real time.

''We believe that Microsoft's decision to sell Greenfield Online's ISS business to ZM Capital is an excellent opportunity to strengthen our industry leadership around the world,'' said Albert Angrisani, president and chief executive officer of Greenfield Online. ''The ZM Capital acquisition is a very positive development for ISS clients and employees, and I believe the team at ZM Capital has the right combination of domain experience and resources to help the ISS business develop the next generation of products and services.''