SANTA ANA, Calif. ^__ The biggest news of the year, and perhaps of our history, came when we formed our joint venture with Experian Group. The agreement teamed Experian Real Estate Solutions, the nation's largest provider of real estate-related data, with First American, the nation's leading provider of real estate-related financial and information services. We have joined the industry's biggest supplier of raw data with its biggest user of this information. The efficiencies, already being realized, will be substantial.

     This venture will take the company in new directions. With the Experian resources, we will be able to greatly accelerate the pace of title searching innovation ^__ integrating and automating a process which is currently very fragmented. The door to further acquisitions is open as we seek to integrate additional data and software.

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