Two years after accounting issues were discovered, comScore released re-audited financial data that shows the company had big losses over the past three years.
The company has gone through two CEO and control has shirted to activist shareholder Starboard Value. But now the company says it is ready to focus on its measurement business and serving clients.
"The completion of our restatement process and the filing of current financials is an important step for our company as it allows us to move forward and focus our full attention on delivering on the vast potential of our business,” said Bill Livek, executive vice chairman and president of comScore.
“On behalf of the Board, I'd like to thank our investors, customers and employees for their patience during this process, and assure them that, as a result of this process, we are significantly improving our accounting policies and procedures as we also constantly reinforce ethical compliance throughout our organization,” Livek said. “With these matters behind us, we are confident that our strong assets, market-leading technologies and excellent team will enable us to deliver improved services to our customers, stay ahead of our competitors and deliver long-term value to our stockholders."
comScore said it lost $281.4 million in 2017. That’s double the $117.2 million loss it racked up in 2016 and much bigger than the $78.2 million loss in 2016.
Audit costs were $83.4 million in 2017 and $46.6 million in 2016.
comScore said its 2017 revenue were $193.6 million, up from $173.1 million in 2016 and $11.9 million in 2015.
With its financial house in order, comScore will attempt to tackle the measurement issues facing the media business.
comScore, which focused on digital measurement, acquired Rentrak, which provided data on TV and the movies in 2016. The combination was seen as having the potential to challenge Nielsen, the media measurement industry leader.
"Over the past several months our Board and management have taken significant steps to reset and refocus our company so we can deliver on our customer-centric promise of making advertising and audiences more valuable for our clients across every screen, platform and device,” Livek said.
“We have focused on driving growth in our core business lines through product enhancements, implementing cross-platform management – which is a massive opportunity – and relentlessly driving toward improved profitability through efficiency in all facets of our business. While there is much to be done, we are excited about the business enhancements and progress we've made and are encouraged by our path forward -- one that will allow us to deliver industry-leading solutions that our clients need today and into the future,” he said.
