Carole Stone collects £800,000 windfall after YouGov deal
Carole Stone, co-founder of YouGovStone, the market research and events agency for opinion formers, has landed an £800,000 windfall after selling her half of the business.
Annual results for YouGov today showed the AIM-listed polling firm gave Stone £700,000 in cash and £100,000 in shares when she sold in June.
Ex-Radio 4 producer Stone, known for her networking, founded the joint venture with YouGov in 2007. YouGov itself swung to a pre-tax profit of £411,000 in the year to July against a £10.6 million loss. Turnover shot up 27% to £56.1 million.
Chief executive Stephan Shakespeare said YouGov won't pay a dividend as it continues to make acquisitions.
Revenues tripled in America, now YouGov's largest market, helped by a number of unnamed West Coast technology clients. New UK clients included Argos and Penguin.
YouGov is best known for election polling and forecasting the results of X-Factor.
