Cision, which traces its roots to a Swedish press clipping service founded in 1892, has unloaded its declining print monitoring operations in the U.S. to BurrellesLuce for $2M.
Cision said its U.S. print monitoring and margins have steadily declined over the past decade – revenue for 2011 was about $11M – with the shift to digital.
The company unloaded its print monitoring operations in Europe over the past four years.
The move comes less than two weeks after Cision was forced to pay a “significant sum” to settle a copyright infringement charge by Dow Jones.
Cision said it will get $1.5M of the $2M in quarterly installments through 2013 and will get an earn-out up to $4M over a three-year term.
“With the divestment of the US print monitoring business Cision will make a further important strategic step in its transformation to a fully digital, software-driven business that conforms to the changes in the media landscape,” Cision Group CEO Hans Gieskes said in a statement.
Cision said it would take a SEK 7 million (about $992K) hit on the group’s full year 2012 operating profit after non-recurring costs.
Robert Waggoner, CEO of BurrellesLuce, said there is a value in providing print monitoring services. “The PR community has made it clear that the image of the article is very important in showing ROI on their initiatives, which text alone doesn’t provide” he said.
He noted BurrellesLuce has had a copyright compliance program since 1994.