Amid concerns about a broad economic downturn, Comscore, the metering company and cash register data provider led by CEO Jon Carpenter, is embarking on a restructuring plan to cut costs.
The Virginia-headquartered company announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that it had “communicated a headcount reduction as part of its broader efforts to improve cost efficiency and better align its corporate structure and resources with strategic priorities.” .”
Comscore did not disclose the number of employees affected by the changes, but noted in the filing that costs associated with the restructuring plan are “cash costs of approximately $6 million to $8 million for severance payments, severance payments and related costs for affected employees.” include.”
Comscore posted total revenues of $91 million in second-quarter earnings released in August, but digital advertising solutions revenue declined slightly to $51 million “due to slower ad spend,” the company said at the time.
During an earnings call with analysts on Aug. 9, Carpenter was asked about “headwinds” in the digital advertising spend market for the remainder of this year. “That’s definitely a tailwind in the second half of the year in terms of accelerated ad spend,” Carpenter replied to the call, adding, “It’s pretty clear to me that we’re in a bit of a slump. And so I think what you’re seeing in the guide, at least about our digital advertising business, is a setback in our expectations around the growth rate on that side of the business.
When approached for comment on the announced restructuring plan, a Comscore spokesperson said: “Comscore can confirm that a staff reduction has been announced today. The action was taken as part of our regular business review and aimed to improve cost efficiency and align our corporate structure and resources with strategic priorities, as CEO Jon Carpenter outlined during our latest earnings call.”
Since the first trading day in 2022, the ComScore stock has fallen 48 percent so far. Leading up to the announcement of its restructuring plan, the analytics giant announced several appointments in August, including the promotion of Chief Product Officer Dr. David Algranati as Chief Innovation Officer and the addition of Greg Dale as Chief Operating Officer. Carpenter was promoted to CEO in July, after joining the company last year as Chief Financial Officer.
The company’s restructuring plan, the filing states, includes “the reallocation of resources for commercial and product development; reinvestment in and modernization of key technology platforms; consolidation of data storage and processing operations to reduce the company’s footprint in the data center; and reduction of other operating costs, including software and facilities costs.”