Wednesday, April 2, 2008

J.D. Power Acquires Umbria

Westlake Village-based J.D. Power and Associates -- the firm behind the ubiquitous automotive customer satisfaction surveys -- has acquired Umbria, a Colorado-based firm which uses blogs, social networking web sites, message boards, and other web information for market intelligence. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. J.D. Power said that the acquisition would further enhance its customer-based studies on quality and customer satisfaction. Umbria sorts through online posts, blogs, and other information to gauge customer opinions on products, brands, and companies. Umbria was venture backed by Arrowpath Venture Capital, Sequel Venture Partners, and Vista Ventures. J.D. Power is a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies. A spokesperson for Umbria said Wednesday afternoon that the firm has around 40 employees, and will remain in Boulder.