Cambridge Analytica, the embattled data firm that worked on President Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, has told employees it is shutting down, along with its UK counterpart SCL Elections. The move, which impacts all offices of both companies worldwide, comes amid recent revelations that the company harvested the data of up to 87 million Facebook users[1] without their consent, according to multiple sources close to the company.
The decision to close the company's doors internationally was announced to employees during a global town hall meeting, held in the firm's New York City offices Wednesday. The company's recently appointed CEO Julian Wheatland told staffers the company had evaluated all options and no longer saw a way forward. One source says that New York employees were told to pack up and leave immediately, with few details about how they'll be compensated going forward. The feeling in the room was "just shock," says the source. “There was indication the company was in trouble and change would be coming, but we didn’t see this as the resolution."
SCL Elections and "certain of its affiliates," including Cambridge Analytica, are beginning insolvency proceedings in the UK and filing for bankruptcy in the United States, according to a statement[2] from the data firm's US-based branch. "The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company’s customers and suppliers," the statement read. "As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business, which left Cambridge Analytica with no realistic alternative to placing the Company into administration."
Gizmodo first reported[3] that Cambridge Analytica's US offices would shut down.
In March, The New York Times[4], alongside The Guardian[5] and The Observer,