Cision is the global communications company operating PR Newswire (founded 1954). Owned by Platinum Equity since 2020 (~$2.7B). Operates the Cision Communications Cloud, PR Newswire distribution, Brandwatch (acquired 2021 ~$450M), TrendKite. ~75,000 global customers.
Cision is the dominant PR software platform — PR Newswire, Brandwatch, CisionOne. Owned by Platinum Equity since 2020. Vocus, PRWeb, and HARO inside the lineage.
The press release isn't dead. The unified PR platform is. Why teams running unbundled best-in-class stacks outperform teams that bought into Cision, Meltwater, or Onclusive's end-to-end pitch.
Most enterprise communications teams are running a stack built for a media environment that no longer exists. The audience that matters now is the AI engines.
A March 2013 note on Peter Shankman's departure from Vocus, three years after he sold HARO to the firm. The exit ended Shankman's day-to-day involvement with the press-source connection system he built in 2008.
Viralheat: predictive social analytics pioneer, founded 2011 by Raj Kadam and Vishal Sankhla, acquired by Cision March 2015. The technology became CisionOne.
EPR's 2026 reference on Business Wire — the Berkshire Hathaway-owned global press release distribution infrastructure. Founded 1961 by Lorry Lokey. The four operational functions, six shifts since 2012, when to use wire distribution and when not to.
Peter Shankman built Help A Reporter Out (HARO) in 2008 — the single piece of infrastructure that connected the global press to the world's sources for sixteen years. Cision shut it down in 2024. Nothing has replaced it at the same scale.