comScore stock plunges to a record low

comScore Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) stock plunged to a record low of $5.30 on Wednesday after securing a big private placement investment. Investors remained concerned about the company’s future as this year turned out to be problematic due to the departure of top executives.

The company’s stock has tanked again after the shares were delisted amidst an internal accounting investigation during early February. The company had missed the deadline to restate its financials, which led to Nasdaq delisting the stock. Later, the stock regained its listing position on the Nasdaq.

On this week Monday, the company secured a $20 million investment via a private placement with a potential to increase to about $50 million within twelve months. The agreement was signed with an unnamed institutional investor. ComScore will get upfront proceeds of $20 million from the private sale of common stock and issuing four series of warrants.

During May-end, the company announced in a regulatory filing that its operating chief Kathryn Bachmann resigned on May 29. During April 1, the company reported the exit of its CEO Bryan Wiener and President Sarah Hofstetter. The company, which appointed Dale Fuller as interim CEO, also named three directors to its Board.

For the first quarter of 2019, comScore reported a narrower loss helped by a decline in investigation and audit related expenses as well as lower restructuring expenses. However, the bottom line missed analysts’ expectations. Revenue declined by 3.4% due to a decline in current deliveries of digital customer solutions as well as the inclusion of certain digital customer solution deliveries from prior-year sales in the first quarter of 2018.

While the strategic review is still in process, the company has identified and implemented actions that will result in better customer experience, improved organizational efficiency, and resources that are better aligned with business needs. comScore expects these actions to drop annualized costs and cash outflow by about $20 million, or 5% of its core operating costs, a portion of which will be realized beginning in the second quarter of 2019.

Shares of comScore ended Wednesday’s regular session down 8.69% at $5.57 on the Nasdaq. The stock has fallen over 74% in the past year and over 73% in the past three months.

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