Vocus

Vocus
Private
Industry Technology
Fate Merged with Cision AB to form Cision Inc.
Successor Cision Inc.
Founded 1992 (1992)
Headquarters Beltsville, Maryland, United States
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Peter Granat (CEO)
Products Marketing and public relations software & services
Revenue US$186.9 million (2013)
Number of employees
 1,200
Subsidiaries PRWeb
HARO
iContact
Website www.vocus.com
Footnotes / references
[1][2]

Vocus was a public relations software company based in Beltsville, Maryland, United States, serving clients worldwide from 1992 to 2014. In addition to its web-based PR software suites, the company owns the online publicity services, PRWeb and Help a Reporter Out (HARO). Vocus was founded in 1992 by Rick Rudman and Bob Lentz and was a publicly 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 form Cision Inc. as the succeeding company.

History and acquisitions

Early history

Vocus Inc. was founded in 1992 by chief 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 supporting political 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 help political action committees and grassroots organizations track and organize donors and contacts.[5][6] In 1997, the company expanded its services to offer public 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]

2000s

During the 2000s, the company continued to expand its public relations services. In October 2002, Vocus announced the release of its application programming interface (API), built using Microsoft XML, which allowed companies to integrate Vocus software with other business productivity applications.[7]

In 2005, Vocus held its initial 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 Washington 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 the Associated Press, allowing Vocus users to distribute press releases within the AP network.[11]

2010 onwards

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] The same year, the company also acquired the online service Help a Reporter Out (HARO).[12][13] In February 2011, Vocus announced it had acquired two social media marketing companies, Engine 140, which develops marketing software for use with Twitter, and North Social, developer of Facebook customization software.[14][15] In 2012, Vocus acquired the email 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 speakers Arianna Huffington and Elisabeth 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.

In 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 will be based out of Chicago and the combined entity will be known as Cision.[19]

Corporate overview

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 in Beltsville, Maryland.[20] In the United States, Vocus also operates offices in College Park, Maryland; Herndon and Reston, Virginia and Ferndale, Washington.[8] The company's international headquarters were located in London.[8] As of October 2012, the company employed 1,200 people worldwide, 700 of whom are located in Beltsville.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gus G. Sentementes (13 October 2012). "Vocus tackles digital marketing, hires hundreds". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Vocus Announces Results for Fourth Quarter 2012". Investor Relations. Vocus. 5 February 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 "Vocus buys PR Web to distribute online". The Washington Times. 28 August 2006. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  4. 1 2 Sara Kehaulani Goo (27 June 2001). "Vocus Is the Envy Of Tech Start-Ups; Software Firm Has Clients and a Plan". The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  5. 1 2 Becky Neilson (13 October 1999). "Software companies vie for lobbyists' business". The Hill. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 Anita Huslin (27 August 2007). "Vocus Puts Playtime on the Agenda". The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  7. ↑ Dan Muse (3 October 2002). "Vocus Unveils API for PR Automation Suite". InternetNews. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Vocus raises $45M in stock offering". Baltimore Business Journal. 7 December 2005. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  9. 1 2 "Vocus pays $28M in cash and stock for PRWeb". Washington Business Journal. 8 August 2006. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Kate N. Nichols (September 2006). "Pioneering company takes its next step Ferndale’s PRWeb sold to national company". Business Pulse Magazine. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  11. ↑ "Vocus inks agreement with Associated Press". Baltimore Business Journal. 21 March 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  12. 1 2 "Vocus acquires Help A Reporter Out". Washington Business Journal. 10 June 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  13. ↑ Barb Dybwad (10 June 2010). "Vocus Acquires HARO to Expand Journalist-Driven PR Service". Mashable. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  14. ↑ Robin Wauters (25 February 2011). "Vocus Buys Facebook Apps Maker North Social For $7M In Cash + $18M Earnout". TechCrunch. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  15. ↑ Jeff Clabaugh (8 February 2011). "Vocus acquires Engine 140". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  16. ↑ David Ranii (29 February 2012). "Marketing firm buys Triangle's iContact". The News & Observer. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  17. ↑ "Email marketing firm iContact sold to Vocus for $169M". Triangle Business Journal. 28 December 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  18. 1 2 "Cision and Vocus Unite, Ushering in the Future of PR and Social Software | Cision". www.cision.com. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
  19. ↑ "» Cision to Retire Vocus Name". www.capitolcommunicator.com. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
  20. 1 2 Susan Payton (8 July 2012). "Vocus: Small Businesses Shouldn’t Have to Piecemeal Their Marketing". Small Business Trends. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
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