Dec. 14, 2005
Experian acquired comparison-shopping site PriceGrabber.com in a $485 million cash deal. The new holding will become part of Experian's interactive unit, which includes LowerMyBills.com, MetaReward, Affiliate Fuel, ClassesUSA and Experian Consumer Direct. PriceGrabber is similar to LowerMyBills in that both are lead-referral businesses. Experian is eyeing cross-marketing possibilities between PriceGrabber and its other Internet properties, according to executive vice president Peg Smith. For example, people searching for home improvement loans on LowerMyBills may see ads — or “shopping opportunities” as Smith referred to them — from PriceGrabber for home improvement and gardening products. In November, PriceGrabber drew 17 million unique visitors, according to Experian.
Dec. 12
The U.S. Postal Service concluded fiscal 2005 with record revenue of $70 billion, and record volume: 212 billion pieces of mail for the year. But net income of $1.4 billion was off from 2004's figure of $3.1 billion. “Financially, we are in the best position we've been since the 1970s,” Postmaster General Jack Potter told the December meeting of the USPS Board of Governors. “We kept our focus on the customer for the past four years. It has paid off in record revenue, record volume and positive customer satisfaction ratings.” But Potter cautioned that the escrow requirement of $3.1 billion anticipated in fiscal 2006 likely will force the USPS to run a net deficit of up to $2 billion for the year, despite a projected surplus from operations. A 5.4% postal rate increase to fund the escrow account will go into effect this month. The 212 billion mail pieces moved in 2005 represents a 5.6 billion-piece increase over deliveries in 2004. And for the first time in U.S. postal history, standard mail, which commercial businesses use to reach consumers, outpaced first class by 101 billion pieces to 98 billion. That first class total also represents a slight hike after three years of decline.
