ASS#1 Step 3 - Experian is how old?!

Experian is an information technology company that is based in 37 countries around the world with approximately 17,000 employees. Their HQ is in Dublin. They primarily provide products that collect, analyse, interpret and store digital data. When you distil the message, it seems that Experian promise to provide value through clarity of information, the promise of direction and protection when you navigate the digital world, as a business or consumer. According to the spin, Experian is everywhere, kind of like your digital deity in the collection and use of financial information. For example: Experian promises to help a bank understand a consumer’s financial information to assess them for loans and on the flip side, will protect that consumer’s personal information as part of the process. Experian operate in four major segments which are: Credit Services, Decision Analytics, Marketing Services and Consumer Services.

When I read through the website, I found that there was a lot of corporate spin and ‘feel-good’ jargon. My initial impression was that the company is everywhere through the sheer need for information collection, analysis and protection that is required by businesses and consumers at all levels. They make it clear what segments they operate in on their website but they don’t make it particularly clear how they actually do it. My initial reaction to a company that has so many stock-footage-style videos and new-age promises of changing the world was not to trust them. Hopefully the irony of that isn’t lost on anyone. So I got a second opinion about what they do from Bloomberg. I found that Bloomberg’s description was far more helpful to me in understanding what it is that Experian actually does. I found out that in the Marketing Services segment there is a product that provides companies with a marketing platform, allowing clients to execute marketing campaigns through a variety of means with customers. Consumer Services provides online products that help consumers manage their finances, credit and protect themselves against identity theft and fraud. It serves customers in a wide variety of different industries including health, retail and government to name just a couple.

The most surprising thing to learn is that they were founded in 1803. I was astonished to find out how old Experian actually is and the first question that sprang to mind was: what the heck did an information technology do in 1803? I started envisioning a Delorian screeching to a halt with twin trails of fire behind it and the beginning of a potential time paradox but it turns out that, of course, they didn’t start out in IT as we know it now. From what I can glean on their website, London merchants started swapping information on customers who failed to settle their debts and this practice formed the cornerstone for Experian’s growth as a company. They evolved and diversified through many acquisitions but primarily focused on credit analysis which is still a huge component of the services they offer today. If you want to read more about their remarkable history, you can find it here.

So I sat down and thought: yeah I really need to have a read of the “about us” page of the website. Turns out there is a lot more to it than what one page can describe. I feel like the website is coated in a layer of airbrushed explanations, designed to nail a generic marketing brief and it was hard to get a sense of who they really are and what they actually do. When I dug into them a little more, they turned out to be a far more interesting story.


You can find their financial statements here:


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