Comscore stock plunges on the departure of top executives; appoints Dale Fuller as interim CEO

Shares of Comscore (SCOR) stumbled more than 25% today after 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 and forecast the preliminary revenue outlook for first quarter of 2019.

Comscore said that Bryan Wiener, who was appointed as CEO in April 2018 and assumed that role from the end of May 2018, is stepping down as CEO and also from the board of directors with immediate effect. It’s worth noting that the CEO position at Comscore was unoccupied since then CEO, Gian Fulgoni, retired in November 2017.

The Reston, Virginia-based firm appointed Dave Fuller, who served as a director since March 2018 and as chair of Comscore’s audit committee since April 2018, as interim CEO. Comscore initiated a search to identify a permanent CEO and will consider external and internal candidates for that role.

“As Dale works more closely with our dedicated employees and board, we believe he will optimize our operations and accelerate our path to profitability. We thank Bryan for his contributions over the past year and wish him well in his future endeavors,” said Brent Rosenthal, Chairman of the Board.

The board also said that Sarah Hofstetter, president, will be resigning from Comscore and it has no immediate plans to fill her position.

Also read: Comscore (SCOR) Q4 2018 earnings conference call transcript

Comscore named Irwin Gotlieb, Joanne Bradford and Kathi Love appointed as board of directors. Gotlieb recently served as a senior advisor to WPP and was formerly the global CEO and chairman of GroupM. Ms. Bradford currently serves as chief marketing officer of Social Finance, Inc. Ms. Love served as CEO of GfK MRI for 13 years and she founded Motherwell Resources LLC, a consulting and executive coaching firm.

Based on the preliminary results, Comscore estimates first quarter 2019 revenue to be between $100 million and $104 million and the company expects to announce its first quarter 2019 earnings results in the first half of May.

Comscore stock ended down 29.68% at $14.24 on Monday. The stock had gained 4% since the beginning of this year and dropped 38% in the past 12 months.

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