Cision's software is distributed in seven languages. As of June 2014[update], it was used by more than 16,000 annual subscribers worldwide,[4] including commercial businesses and governmental, educational and non-profit organizations.[2]
The company offers three web-based packages: the "CisionMarketing Suite", the "Public Relations Suite" and the "Government Relations and Political Action Committee Suite".[4] The Cision "Public Relations Suite" allows users to distribute press releases, access a database of bloggers and journalists (with no option to opt-out), and monitor and analyze news and social media sites.[5] The company's "Government Relations Suite" manages government contacts, analyzes lobbying activity, facilitates communication with elected officials and provides PAC compliance software for filing reports to the FEC and state elections commissions.[6]
Through a series of acquisitions, the company provides services in PRWeb, HARO, North Social, Eureka, Vocus, and Media Insight Suite which Cision has continued to operate under the existing brand names.
PRWeb is an online press release service.[7][8] PRWeb services are available through the "Vocus Marketing Suite," the "Vocus PR Suite" or as a separate service.
In 2011, Cision AB sold its Finnish subsidiary Oy Cision Finland AB to M-Brain Group.[9]
On September 15, 2014, Cision announced the acquisition of Visible Technologies, a social media analytics company.[10]
On October 14, 2014, Cision AB and Vocus announced a "friendly merger" of the two public relations companies.[11] Cision based in Sweden will relocate its headquarters to Chicago and so will Vocus based in Maryland, United States.[11] The company will be based in Chicago and the combined entity will be known as Cision.[12]
During 2015, Cision also acquired the UK company Gorkana. Gorkana offered monitoring, journalist databases and analysis services.[13] On December 15, 2015, Cision agreed to acquire PRNewswire from UBM plc for $841 million (approx. £575 million).[14]
On June 29, 2017, Cision went public via its reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Capitol Acquisition Corporation III.[15]
On December 26, 2017, Cision agreed to acquire PRIME Research.[16] The acquisition was completed on January 24, 2018.[17]
On January 31, 2020, Platinum Equity completed its acquisition of Cision Ltd for $2.7 billion making it private again.[18] In September 2020, Cision named Abel Clark as CEO, replacing interim chief Brandon Crawley. Prior to the appointment, Clark was CEO of TruSight.[19]
Cision announced the acquisition of Brandwatch in February 2021 for $450 million.[20]
Brandon Crawley returned as interim CEO in February 2022.[21] In April 2022, Cision acquired Streem, an Australia-based realtime media monitoring company.[22] In November 2022, Cision acquired Factmata, a media monitoring and analytics technology company.[23]
In January 2023, Cali Tran joined as CEO.[21][24] In June 2023, Cision launched CisionOne, an AI-powered platform.[25]
In July 2024, Dow Jones & Co. filed a lawsuit against Cision for a breach of contract.[26]
