Comscore SVP Joe Nguyen resigns amid retrenchment exercise in APAC

Audience measurement company Comscore has implemented a global retrenchment exercise, starting with Asia Pacific (APAC). Marketing has confirmed with the company that senior vice president for APAC Joe Nguyen (pictured) has chosen to resign in lieu of the restructure.Not revealing the details surrounding the exit, Nguyen told Marketing said that he felt it was time for him to embark on new challenges, after a spending a decade building the team and the business from scratch.“Many companies undergo reduction in force at various times, but for the sake of business continuity for the clients and the industry, I determined that this decision is the least disruptive. I have complete confidence in the Comscore APAC team that I have nurtured and grown over the years,” he said.Nguyen, who is understood to be serving in his role until the end of May, has spent 10 years at Comscore. Based in Singapore, he first started as the vice president for Southeast Asia and India from 2009 to 2012. The chair of IAB Southeast Asia and India also added that his focus and interest going forward will be “on data and the utilisation of data in the corporate environment”.Comscore has declined to comment on the headcount and number of affected employees within the region. Marketing has reached out for more details on the future plans for APAC.Comscore reported 3.4% decline to US$102.3 million in its total year-over-year revenue for the first quarter ending March 2019. Net loss stands at US$27.5 million, an improvement from US$51.5 million in the same period last year.According to chief financial officer and treasurer Greg Fink during the first quarter earnings call webcast, Comscore has reduced its workforce by 10%, including open positions that will not be filled. “This reduction was implemented in order to decrease costs, more effectively align resources to business priorities and ultimately improve profitability and cashflow,” he added. Speaking to investors, Fink said that the company expect its “strategic review” to immediately improve its cashflow and ultimately reduce operating costs by approximately US$20 million on an annualised basis, a portion of which will be realised in the first quarter of 2019.Most recently CEO Bryan Wiener and president Sarah Hofstetter, who were based at the headquarters in US also left the company. In a press release announcing the departures on 1 April, Comscore named director Dale Fuller as the interim chief executive officer and said there are no immediate plans to fill Hofstetter’s position.  Fuller, who is in his sixth week as interim CEO, highlighted that the company is “revisiting every aspect of its cost structure” such as long term data contracts and facility requirements. It is also stepping up on efforts to lower fixed costs and optimise sales  organisation structure.“We are taking a deep dive into the business to reduce management layers, eliminate redundancies, improve processes and ultimately keep our costs in line with our revenue,” he said.Within the region, it has offices in Hong Kong, China, Australia and India as well as resellers in Malaysia and Japan. It closed its Japan office early last year and Beijing office at the end of 2018.  Comscore has a total staff strength of over 1,700 from its offices in Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States. The retrenchment exercise also impacted Europe and the US, although number of employees affected remains undisclosed.Comscore describes itself as a leading company in helping marketers plan, transact and evaluate media across platforms since it was set up in 1999. It is also the appointed online measurement standard in a number of markets across the globe, including Malaysia.Read more:comScore: Top 10 internet sites and apps visited in MalaysiacomScore introduces extended video reporting in China