[Excerpt] CoStar Group, Inc. was the nation’s first independent commercial real estate information research organization, and since its inception in 1987, has taken an industry lacking efficiency of information and revolutionized i t by compiling and maintaining detailed records on hundreds of thousands of different commercial proper ties across the Uni ted States and Uni ted Kingdom. As President and CEO of CoStar, Andrew Florance has directed CoStar’s successful expansion from its beginning over twenty year s ago, through its public offering in July 1998, and onto an international service plat form fol lowing i t s expansion covering European market s in the United Kingdom and France. With approximately 1,300 people working for the CoStar worldwide, CoStar serves a client base that includes nearly all of the leading commercial real estate brokerage firms.