Hoover's Announces "The Hoover's Index"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Business Intelligence Provider Releases Index On Top 1,000 Companies

AUSTIN, TEXAS - April 24, 2007 - Hoover's, Inc. (www.hoovers.com) today announced the launch of The Hoover's Index, a free, proprietary monthly index of the leading public and private companies, non-profits, and associations which represent the brand leaders, up-and-comers and "buzz" creators driving the U.S. and international economies. The Hoover's Index, which reveals monthly spikes in company search activity, represents a relative ranking of companies generating interest and exposure independent of pure fiscal performance measured by most business ranking indexes.

The Hoover's Index is based on a proprietary algorithm that takes into account the search trends of business professionals, including both organic and internal searches on Hoover's site, as well as business-related searches conducted via major search engines. Movement above and below index will determine ranking, instead of gross search volume. A company's ranking is derived from the changes in search volume, indexed against the previous 52-week average for that company.

"The Hoover's Index is a valuable resource for business executives, financial analysts, mutual fund managers and investment advisors in gauging which companies are capturing the interest of the global business community. It's a bit like TV ratings for companies," said Paul Pellman, interim president of Hoover's. "We're unaware of any other current, monthly company rankings that are based on such a comprehensive collection of search methodologies, including Internet search metrics of business professionals."

The Hoover's Index, which utilizes more than a billion data points, expands and replaces The Hoover's 100 list, which originally launched on Hoover's site in May 2006. The Hoover's Index is compiled from a universe which includes all worldwide companies that trade on a major stock exchange, as well as private companies identified as leaders by Hoover's business experts. Hoover's subscribers can click through from The Hoover's Index to in-depth coverage of the history, operations, and executives leading each company on the list.

The Hoover's Index will be complemented by expanded editorial coverage on the biggest movers and shakers that have had a significant change in their index ranking, and that show the most dynamic momentum in a number of key areas including market interest, valuation, executive movement and market potential.

Additionally, for those who would like direct delivery of news about the latest developments within The Hoover's Index, the Hoover's Hottest Companies newsletter is available here.

About Hoover's, Inc.

Hoover's, a D&B company, gives its customers a competitive edge with insightful information about industries, companies and key decision makers. Hoover's provides this up-to-date information for sales, marketing, business development and other professionals who need intelligence on U.S. and global companies, industries and the people who lead them. This information, along with powerful tools to search, sort, download and integrate the content, is available through Hoover's premier online service at http://www.hoovers.com. Hoover's business information is also available through corporate intranets and distribution agreements with licensees, as well as via Hoover's books. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Contacts