under the reorganization plan, one of the firm<u+2019>s co-founders will be launching a new stand-alone company with venture capital funding that offers up much of targeted victory<u+2019>s original digital ad technology services. | getty targeted victory<u+2019>s co-founders splitting company into two. by darren samuelsohn and daniel lippman 11/10/16 05:22 pm est the biggest player in republican digital politics <u+2014> shoved to the sidelines by donald trump<u+2019>s presidential campaign <u+2014> is downsizing in the wake of the billionaire<u+2019>s surprise white house win. targeted victory, which rose out of the ashes of mitt romney<u+2019>s 2012 presidential campaign to employ more than 100 people and become the gop<u+2019>s go-to technology consultant firm, will be splitting into two separate companies in january. an undisclosed number of staff are being laid off as part of the transition for a firm that<u+2019>s coming to grips with the reality of doing business in a trump-led world. story continued below under the reorganization plan, michael beach, one of the firm<u+2019>s co-founders, will be launching a new stand-alone company with venture capital funding that offers up much of targeted victory<u+2019>s original digital ad technology services. it will take on political clients but also will look for revenue from the movie, automobile, home services, energy and education industries. beech<u+2019>s long-time partner, romney 2012 digital director zac moffatt, will continue to run targeted victory under the same name, largely focusing on political consulting, digital marketing, fundraising and media planning, he told politico. he plans to hire new staff. moffatt explained the shift as part of the usual churn that happens after every four-year presidential political cycle. he said beech<u+2019>s new firm, focusing on digital ad technology, would be able to draw investors and grow quicker without targeted victory<u+2019>s client demands. but republican digital staffers familiar with targeted victory said the company had to make the changes for other reasons too, namely the new dynamics in gop consultant politics. <u+201c>they<u+2019>re probably not going to get the reelect. so what are your revenue assumptions? what<u+2019>s your burn rate? these are business decisions,<u+201d> explained a senior republican digital staffer. added another gop aide: <u+201c>they needed to wipe the slate clean.<u+201d> during the 2016 campaign, targeted victory had a major role in helping senate republicans with their reelection efforts. but on the presidential front, it was largely shunned in the general election race against hillary clinton as trump looked elsewhere for technology help. the republican nominee built an in-house digital and data operation and also heavily relied on staffers from the republican national committee. trump shunned targeted victory in no small part because the firm dedicated significant resources to ted cruz<u+2019>s primary campaign. according to campaign expenditure data compiled by cq moneyline, targeted victory pulled in nearly $7 million from the texas republican<u+2019>s presidential bid. while targeted victory did almost a half-million dollars in business with trump, it was mostly for tangential services and had little to do with the campaign<u+2019>s overall technology effort. by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz by jack shafer
major gop tech player downsizes - politico
darren samuelsohn daniel lippman jack shafer