 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Technology |
| Founded | 1992 (1992) |
| Fate | Merged with Cision AB to formCision Inc. |
| Successor | Cision Inc. |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Peter Granat(CEO) |
| Products | Marketing and public relationssoftware & services |
| Revenue | US$186.9 million (2013) |
Number of employees | 1,200 |
| Subsidiaries | PRWeb HARO iContact |
| Website | web |
| Footnotes / references [1][2] | |
Vocus was a public relationssoftware company based inBeltsville, Maryland,United States, serving clients worldwide from 1992 to 2014. In addition to its web-based PRsoftware suites, the company owns the online publicity services, PRWeb andHelp a Reporter Out (HARO). Vocus was founded in 1992 by Rick Rudman and Bob Lentz and was apublicly held company until June 2014 when it was taken private by Chicago-based private equity company GTCR. The company operates additional offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Since late 2014, the company merged with Cision AB to formCision Inc. as the succeeding company.
Vocus Inc. was founded in 1992 bychief executive officer Rick Rudman and his business partner, Bob Lentz.[3] The two had previously been investors at First Data Software Publishing, which they co-founded in 1991 to develop software supportingpolitical organizations' external communications. Rudman and Lentz bought out the firm's other two partners and quit their jobs to relaunch the company as Vocus.[4][5]
In its early years, Vocus developed software to helppolitical action committees andgrassroots organizations track and organize donors and contacts.[5][6] In 1997, the company expanded its services to offerpublic relations software, including a product developed specifically for clients outside of the political sector, to help them manage external communications.[4][6] In 1999, Vocus discontinued the use of packaged software products, choosing instead to offer its software over the Internet.[6]
During the 2000s, the company continued to expand its public relations services. In October 2002, Vocus announced the release of itsapplication programming interface (API), built usingMicrosoft XML, which allowed companies to integrate Vocus software with other business productivity applications.[7]
In 2005, Vocus held itsinitial public offering, selling 5 million shares of stock and raising a total of $45 million.[1][8] The same year, Vocus was ranked number 50 on theWashington Business Journal's list of the fastest growing companies, after its revenue grew 32.5% from 2004 to 2005.[8]
Vocus purchased PRWeb, the press release service, in August 2006 for $28 million in cash and stock.[9][10][3] The acquisition allowed Vocus customers to access PRWeb's online press release distribution services.[9][3] The following year, in 2007, Vocus established a partnership with theAssociated Press, allowing Vocus users to distribute press releases within the AP network.[11]
The company continued to expand through acquisitions from 2010 onward. In 2010, Vocus acquired two software companies offering public relations services similar to Vocus': the French company Datapresse and the Chinese company BDL Media.[12] In the same year, the company also acquired the online serviceHelp a Reporter Out (HARO).[12][13] In February 2011, Vocus announced it had acquired twosocial media marketing companies, Engine 140, which develops marketing software for use with Twitter, and North Social, a developer of Facebook customization software.[14][15] In 2012, Vocus acquired theemail marketing software company, iContact, for $169 million in cash and stock.[16][17]
Vocus holds an annual users conference. In 2013, the conference was opened up to all industry communication professionals. The "Demand Success" 2013 conference took place June 20 and 21, 2013 and featured keynote speakersArianna Huffington andElisabeth Moss (Mad Men). The "Demand Success" 2014 conference took place June 5 and 6, 2013 and featured keynote speakers Randi Zuckerberg, Adrian Grenier and Judy Smith.
On October 14, 2014, Cision and Vocus announced a friendly merger of the two public relations companies.[18] Cision based in Sweden will relocate its headquarters to Chicago and so will Vocus from Maryland.[18] The company is based out of Chicago and the combined entity is known asCision.[19]
Vocus was led by chief executive officer, Peter Granat. In 2013, the company reported revenue of $186.9 million,[2] up from $170.0 million in 2012 and $114.8 million in 2011.[20]
The company headquarters are inBeltsville, Maryland.[20] In the United States, Vocus also operates offices inCollege Park, Maryland;Herndon andReston, Virginia andFerndale, Washington.[8] The company's international headquarters were located inLondon.[8] As of October 2012, the company employed 1,200 people worldwide, 700 of whom were located in Beltsville.[1]