COMSCORE INC
SCOR
Communication Services
3
exclusion reasons
1 theme
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Comscore, Inc. and its former CEO Serge Matta engaged in a fraudulent scheme to overstate the company’s revenue by approximately $50 million. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company with making false and misleading statements about key performance metrics and entering into non-monetary transactions for the purpose of improperly recognizing revenue. In September 2019, Comscore paid a $5 million penalty to settle these SEC fraud charges.
The underlying misconduct led to a significant class action lawsuit on behalf of investors. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted final approval to a $110 million settlement in that case in June 2018. The SEC order and the civil litigation establish a pattern of financial reporting misconduct that harmed investors.
Comscore operates a digital media measurement and analytics business that has faced regulatory scrutiny for its business practices. In 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an administrative complaint against the company, alleging that its data collection practices were deceptive. The FTC order (File No. 112 3098) required Comscore to pay $3.5 million and prohibited misrepresentations about its data collection. The core allegation was that the company bundled its tracking software with other desirable applications without clearly disclosing the extent of data harvesting, a model that regulators identified as exploiting the information asymmetry between the company and consumers. This enforcement action highlights a business approach reliant on opaque user surveillance as a foundational input for its analytics products.
Comscore, Inc. has a documented pattern of regulatory violations and legal settlements across multiple domains, demonstrating systemic compliance failures. In 2019, the company paid $5 million to settle SEC charges for a fraudulent revenue recognition scheme directed by its former CEO. This followed a separate securities fraud class action that settled for $110 million, which received final court approval in 2018. Further, an Illinois federal judge ruled that Comscore must face a 2011 privacy class action lawsuit, indicating unresolved litigation over its data practices.
The company's misconduct extends to insider trading allegations, as noted in enforcement proceedings, and it has been subject to a Fair Fund distribution plan stemming from civil money penalties. This pattern of significant financial settlements with the SEC, alongside ongoing privacy litigation, points to a corporate history of regulatory failures and a disregard for legal compliance obligations.
Research Sources
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Companies appear on our exclusion list based on our investment judgment — not because they've done anything illegal. This is a difference of values and opinion, not an accusation of wrongdoing. Exclusion does not constitute a recommendation against investing in any company, and absence from the list does not constitute a recommendation to invest.
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