Comscore completes investment transactions

Charter, Qurate and Cerberus each made a cash investment in Comscore in exchange for shares of convertible preferred stock. 

Comscore has used the proceeds to repay its debt securities held by hedge fund Starboard and has also repaid its foreign secured term note.

Comscore's stockholders approved the issuance of stock during a special meeting on Tuesday 9^th March.

Bill Livek, chief executive officer and executive vice chairman, Comscore (pictured), said: "We are pleased with the outcome of the stockholder meeting. With the vote in favour of the transactions allowing us to extinguish our senior secured notes, our capital structure will be significantly improved allowing for flexibility to invest in the business."

Comscore’s revenue in 2020 was $356m, down from $388.6m in 2019, according to its full-year financial results.

Full-year revenue from the company’s ratings and planning services was $253.7m, compared with $271.6m the year before, which Comscore said was primarily due to a decrease in revenue from syndicated and digital products.

Lower sales of digital custom services, survey and lift products also meant a decrease in revenue for the analytics and optimisation side of the business – $69.1m down from $74.7m in 2019 – offset by an increase in revenue from activation products, according to the results statement.

Comscore’s movies reporting and analytics revenue also decreased in 2020, due to ongoing cinema closures.

Livek said: "Comscore showed a strong focus on operating performance during a challenging time. We saw continued improvement in many areas of our business."