Dun & Bradstreet, based in a suburb of Newark, N.J., traces its roots to the 1840s and boasts that it employed future presidents Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland and William McKinley. It sells credit reports and other information about millions of companies, which might be consulted by banks and other lenders, as well as any company looking to do business with another company. An auto parts supplier, for instance, might check the Dun & Bradstreet report of an auto repair shop to see if it has a history of paying invoices on time.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 14, 2018 11:01 UTC