IBOPE Buys Majority Stake in Zogby International

US pollster John Zogby has sold a 51% stake in his firm Zogby International to Brazilian research agency IBOPE, with an option to sell the rest of the firm in five to nine years' time.

Terms were not disclosed, although the deal is said to be worth 'millions'.

Founder and CEO Zogby will remain as Chairman of the Board and Chief Insights Officer. He says the funding will enable his company to grow and invest in new technologies such as online polling, to create a larger footprint in the US and expand into Latin America. No jobs will be lost as a result of the acquisition.

Over the past year, Zogby International has worked closely with IBOPE and Zogby says the deal is an 'exciting new chapter' for his company: 'With this investment, Zogby International has an opportunity to set more aggressive sales and profitability goals, develop new products and expand into new methodologies that will continue to keep us ahead of the curve,' he adds.

Zogby founded the firm in 1984, and by the early 1990s became known throughout the US for tracking presidential races and accurately predicting elections. Around 8% of the company's business currently comes from political research, with the majority of work being commissioned by corporate clients.

Brazilian media, market and opinion research specialist IBOPE (The Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics) was founded in 1942, and is headquartered in both Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro with offices across Latin America.

Zogby International will work with IBOPE Inteligencia, a subsidiary of IBOPE which has about 2,800 employees.

'With Zogby, we have entered the largest market in the world, the North American market, and even reached the Middle East, since the region accounts for 30% of the company's business,' explained IBOPE Inteligencia CEO Nelsom Marangoni.

To free up time for Zogby to write his second book, Zogby International will appoint a new CEO who will work alongside current COO Michael Calogero.

Web sites: www.zogby.com and www.ibope.com.br .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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