Cision closes Connecticut office
Cision closed its Norwalk, CT office last month, according to KC Brown, SVP and head of analysis services for the company. The office only handled analysis, according to Brown, who oversees this area.
Brown said the closure was due to “a very expensive lease coming due” and had been in the works for a long time. Some staff accepted an offer to be reassigned to offices in Portsmouth, NH; or New York City, some staff opted to leave the company, and “a couple” of people were cut, Brown added. He would not specify how many staff members were involved in these changes.
In February, PRWeek reported on layoffs at Cision totaling “less than 5%” of the company’s North American workforce and including North American VP of marketing Stephen DeBruyn. The company also sold its Swedish Monitor and Analyze businesses in late March. The company’s recently installed CEO and president, Hans Gieskes, has to reorganize the company to cope with the economic recession and the company’s own business issues. In its annual report, the president’s statement reads: “In order to protect our margins through a recession and be able to continue to invest in product innovation, we have increased efforts to reduce our cost base. During the fourth quarter of 2008, about 100 employees left the company or were given notice. In January 2009, we divested our loss-making Danish operation with about 70 employees. Significant cost reduction measures will continue in 2009 and structural activities for underperforming units cannot be ruled out.”
However, Brown was clear that the Connecticut closure was a real estate issue.
“It was a small operation and it was limited to analysis,” he said. “The folks we have in analysis have direct client interaction, so our clients know where everyone went. This has much more to do with a lease.”