On Wednesday , Cambridge Analytica employee learned that its parent company , the SCL Group , was shuttering the business , with American - based worker directed to return their keycard immediately , fit in to documentation review by Gizmodo .
The news was announced during a group discussion call head by Julian Wheatland , the current president of the SCL Group who wasreportedly tapped to take overas Cambridge Analytica ’s next CEO . Both Cambridge Analytica and SCL Elections ( the SCL Group subsidiary plug in to Cambridge Analytica ) will now shut their doors .
During the call , Wheatland say that the board determine that rebranding the ship’s company ’s offerings in the current environment is “ futile . ”
Cambridge Analytica and the SCL Group have offices in London , New York City , Arlington , Virginia , and Washington , D.C. The conference call was in the first place schedule for Tuesday morn , but was repeatedly labour back until early Wednesday afternoon , in the end getting reschedule more than half a XII metre .
Screenshots from the company ’s intimate chat serving obtained by Gizmodo show a in darkness comical mood in anticipation of the call . One employee share bleakly entitle Spotify playlists in Slack featuring Sung like “ gamey and Dry ” by Radiohead , “ The End ” by The Doors , and “ Help ! ” by The Beatles . Another employee station a still from Titanic exhibit the ship ’s band playing their instruments as the vessel sinks .
In explaining the determination to shut the offices , Wheatland summon the ongoing investigations into Cambridge Analytica’smassive data harvesting outrage , damage to the fellowship ’s reputation , and loss of clients . In March , Britain ’s entropy commissioner denote that she wasseeking a warrantto investigate any actus reus by the data point analytics business firm , appear to search both its office and its servers . UK authoritiesraided the London officelater that month , but have yet to unfreeze their findings . Meanwhile , embattled former CEO Alexander Nixrefused to testifybefore the British Parliamentary media citizens committee regarding the firm ’s abuse of Facebook drug user data .
We have reached out to Cambridge Analytica for more information and will update this story if we hear back .
Update 2:10pm : Speaking to The Wall Street Journal , SCL Group founder Nigel Oakes reassert that both Cambridge Analytica and the SCL Group are close down .
Update 3:10pm : Ina press release , Cambridge Analytica announced that it , SCL Elections , and other affiliate company have filed for insolvency in the UK , with bankruptcy proceedings in the US to trace .
“ Despite Cambridge Analytica ’s unwavering assurance that its employee have acted ethically and de jure , which opinion is now to the full brook by [ a third - political party audit ] , the beleaguering of media coverage has driven away most all of the Company ’s customer and suppliers , ” submit the waiver . “ As a result , it has been determined that it is no longer workable to continue lock the business , which leave Cambridge Analytica with no naturalistic choice to put the Company into administration . ”
Update 4:56pm : Asked for clearing , The Wall Street Journal confirmed that Oakes said the entire SCL Group — not just foot soldier SCL Elections — was shut out down . We have update our story to reflect this information
If you are a current or former Cambridge Analytica employee with information about the layoff or the caller ’s inner liaison , you may e-mail me at[email protect ] . you’re able to also contact us anonymously usingSecureDrop .
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