COMSCORE, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) stock plunged 24.89% on April 1st, 2019 and slightly recovered over 1.1% on April 2nd, 2019 (as of 10:43 AM EDT; Source: Google finance) after the company’s Chief Executive Bryan Wiener is leaving the media measurement firm after less than a year because of disagreements with the board over the execution of the company’s strategy. President Sarah Hofstetter, who had joined six months ago, will also leave the company as part of a leadership biggest shake-up. Hofstetter said she was aligned with Wiener’s strategy and therefore also decided to resign. Comscore confirmed the departures and said that it plans to conduct a search to replace Wiener, but has no plans to fill the role left vacant by Hofstetter.
Meanwhile, Dale Fuller, a board member, will become interim CEO. Irwin Gotlieb, former Chairman at WPP’s GroupM, will join the board, along with Social Finance, Inc.’s chief marketing officer Joanne Bradford and founder of Motherwell Resources LLC Kathi Love.
On the other hand, for the fourth quarter of 2018, SCOR had generated non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of $6.3 million, compared to a loss of $8.1 million in the year-ago quarter. GAAP net loss for the fourth quarter of 2018 was $27.2 million compared to $71.9 million reported in the year-ago quarter. The improvement was due to a reduction of investigation and audit related costs of $26.0 million, continued cost discipline in selling and marketing, research and development, and G&A and the increase in revenue. Total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2018 was $109.3 million, up from $102.9 million in the year-ago quarter. Ratings and Planning revenue increased to $74.8 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $71.6 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase was primarily from TV products due to increases in existing customer contract values as well as approximately $2.8 million related to the delivery of cross-platform products in Europe. Analytics and Optimization revenue increased to $23.9 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $20.8 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase was largely due to Activation products, which experienced significant growth, and delivery of digital customer marketing solutions. Movies Reporting and Analytics revenue was $10.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2018 and $10.5 million in the year-ago quarter.
Based on preliminary results, the company also announced today that first quarter 2019 revenue is expected to be between $100 million and $104 million. Comscore expects to announce its first quarter 2019 earnings results in the first half of May.