YouGov spikes international partnerships strategy
Share
UK-- YouGov has brought the axe down on its efforts to form joint ventures and to license its products to agencies in non-core markets, costing the job of Panos Manolopoulos, CEO of international partnerships.
Nadhim Zahawi, group CEO of the online research specialist, said the partnership arrangements they had looked at “were not working as envisaged”, while economic pressures meant partners would have less money to invest and would be more focused on developing their own businesses.
The two deals already made public – the licensing of the BrandIndex product to Estima in Turkey, and a joint venture with X-Cathedra in Greece to create YouGovHellas – are both “under review”, Zahawi said. But he added: “Anywhere we have made legal commitments we will honour them.”
Zahawi explained that whatever the fate of these ventures it would not have any impact on the company's expected financial performance. “Neither are material to our numbers as we had not put in any revenue from either in our budgets,” he said.
Commenting on the departure of Manolopoulos, Zahawi said the company had gone through a long and detailed consultation process in an attempt to find him an alternative position within the group, but to no avail.
Manolopoulos had been with the company since October 2003, beginning as managing director. After the firm's initial public offering in April 2005 he was made UK managing director before moving to head international partnerships in August 2007. He declined to comment when contacted today.
Looking ahead, Zahawi said the focus now for YouGov was on building up its businesses in the key hubs of Germany, the Middle East, northern Europe, the UK and the US and Canada. He said the company's success in predicting the exact margin of the US presidential vote in November would help boost the brand in that market, which it bought into through the two-stage acquisition of Polimetrix in 2006 and 2007.
Polimetrix, along with YouGov's other acquired companies – Zapera in Scandinavia and Psychonomics in Germany – are set to be rebranded from 2 February.
Author: Brian Tarran
Related links:
Downturn kills off YouGov hedge fund plan
Growth for YouGov – but costs hit profits
