In the Southwest Florida city of Estero, one of the big issues facing local residents is the plague of red tide that has led to the death of a wide array of sea life along the Gulf Coast.
For one major publicly traded company based here, a sea change seen in the C-Suite is perhaps the bigger news of the week. A new CFO is set to start Sept. 10 at Hertz Global Holdings. Who is it? The person who most recently served as CFO of Nielsen.
Taking the job at the rental car giant is Jamere Jackson, who on August 15 tendered his resignation effective Sept. 10 as Chief Financial Officer at troubled audience measurement giant Nielsen, which is conducting an in-depth strategic review of its Buy segment in order to identify the most appropriate options going forward. Meanwhile, one major investor has called for an outright sale of the entire company.
Jackson’s departure, which comes following the announcement during Nielsen’s Q2 earnings call that CEO Mitch Barns will be retiring at year’s end, only fuels speculation that Nielsen Audio and its signature TV ratings business will become the centerpiece of a new Nielsen or integrated into a M&A partner.
In a SEC filing made late Monday (8/20), Nielsen noted that Jackson’s successor would be named shortly.
In after-hours trading Monday, Nielsen was trading at $26.05. A $21.97 close on August 6 was Nielsen’s lowest since at least 2010.
That said, Nielsen’s 1-year target estimate now stands at $28.03, reflecting recent cuts by analysts on Wall Street.
News that Elliott Investment Management has acquired an 8% stake in Nielsen with plans to push the company to sell itself in its entirety precipitated a slight rebound for the company’s stock. The $26 range seems to be on par with the year-end price target on Nielsen stock offered by Brian Wieser, Senior Research Analyst of Advertising at Pivotal Research Group.
As such, he’s downgraded Nielsen shares from “Buy” to “Hold” and has a $27 price target.
At Hertz, Jackson replaces Tom Kennedy, who “has resigned to pursue the next chapter of his career.” He had been with Hertz since 2013.
Jackson exits Nielsen after having joined as CFO in March 2014.
Prior to joining Nielsen, Jackson was the VP/CFO of GE Oil & Gas — Drilling & Surface.
He joined GE in 2004 and held a variety of leadership roles in GE Global Business Services, GE Corporate and GE Aviation before joining GE Oil & Gas.
Prior to joining GE, Jackson held several roles in finance, mergers and acquisitions and strategic planning at The Procter & Gamble Company, Yum! Brands, Inc., First Data Corporation and Total System Services.
In 2017 Jackson ranked No. 27 on the Top 100 Ethnic Minority Leaders list by EMpower, in partnership with the Financial Times.
