SAGO
SAGO is a market research company headquarterd in New Jersey. It was founded as Schlesinger Group in 1966 by Sarah Schlesinger, who led the company for two decades before passing the baton to her son Steve Schlesinger in the late 1980's.
The last few years have seen a flurry of activity at SAGO: acquisitions, CEO changes, a rebranding, and a ballooning debt load.
In 2023, Schlesinger Group rebranded as SAGO, and Steve Schlesinger transitioned to the role as Executive Chairman, appointing the former Kantar Americas CEO Reed Cundiff as CEO.
SAGO does primarily B2C surveys, but are also strong in healthcare. Geographically, the firm is focused on Canada, and the US. They have some proprietary panels, but primarily tap into 3rd party sample.
SAGO recent milestones
2015: Acquired Medquery, a Chicago-based fieldwork firm focused on healthcare.
2019:
Took an investment from Gauge Capital "to help fund acquisitions to grow our geographical scope and service capabilities. SAGO indeed went on an acquisition spree. Gauge Capital invested out of their $500m fund 2, which targeted companies with EBITDA of $5-30m. SAGO also raised $9m debt from Apollo at 7-8% interest.
Acquired Focus Pointe Global, including its 1.6m double opt-in B2C and Healthcare panel.
2020: Acquired Market Cube and 20|20 Research, two tech firms for qual and quant research.
2021:
Acquired Addison Research, a Toronto-based fieldwork and CATI research firm focused on APAC.
Acquired Methodify, a B2C online survey company in Canada.
Acquired Telmy, a Melbourne-based B2C research startup.
Acquired Asking Canadians, a B2C online research community in Canada.
2022: Acquired Opinion Capital, a Canadian programmatic B2C sample provider.
2023: Schlesinger Group rebranded as SAGO, and Steve Schlesinger transitioned to the role as Executive Chairman, appointing the former Kantar Americas CEO Reed Cundiff as CEO.
2024: On Oct 9, Steve Schlesinger returned as CEO with immediate effect.
All the while, SAGO's debt load has kept increasing. Here's what we found in SEC filings:
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We mentioned SAGO in our 2023 B2B and Healthcare market sizing, but excluded from the actual calculations on basis of being primarily B2C and/or 3rd-party sampling.
