Cambridge Analytica Shuts Operations After Facebook Scandal

(Bloomberg) -- Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm embroiled in a scandal over its work for U.S. President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, said it's shutting down all operations effective immediately.

The firm said Wednesday that it has begun insolvency proceedings in the U.K. and is also filing for bankruptcy in the U.S., according to a statement on Cambridge Analytica's website.

The company said it lost "virtually all" customers and suppliers after the New York Times, The Observer of London and other publications reported Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained information from tens of millions of Facebook Inc. users. The breach helped the company develop political ads and other techniques that underpinned its work on Trump's campaign, according to the New York Times.

It's unclear what effect, if any, the ads, which were targeted to individual users' "psychographics," had on actual voting, but the method that an academic working with Cambridge Analytica used to gather the Facebook data touched off a debate about how much information Facebook shares with third parties, and how it can be potentially used to manipulate views. Cambridge Analytica has denied any wrongdoing.

"Over the past several months, Cambridge Analytica has been the subject of numerous unfounded accusations and, despite the company's efforts to correct the record, has been vilified for activities that are not only legal, but also widely accepted as a standard component of online advertising in both the political and commercial arenas," the company said in the statement. "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."

The company said that despite its "precarious financial condition," it plans to meet all its obligations to employees.

Days after the initial stories emerged, Cambridge Analytica suspended Chief Executive Officer Alexander Nix as the bad news piled up. Nix was caught on camera, as part of a four-month undercover operation by Channel 4 News, boasting about the firm's willingness to use bribes, entrapment with sex workers and other tactics to undermine political candidates.

Nix had earlier told Bloomberg News that it was involved in as many as 10 campaigns for prime minister and president every year, including in Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. For one campaign in Latvia, according to documents given to prospective clients, the British affiliate of Cambridge Analytica, known as SCL Group, spread misinformation that was designed to stoke tensions between Latvians and ethnic Russians, blaming Russians for unemployment and helping a nationalist candidate to victory.

The scandal has caused significant problems for Facebook as well, which estimates that as many as 87 million users may have been affected. The company spent weeks explaining, apologizing and adding more privacy features to the service and faced both a #deleteFacebook campaign and lengthy congressional hearings for Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg. However, Facebook is so large and powerful that the outcry has so far had little impact on its business. The company last week reported quarterly revenue that topped analyst estimates.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jordan Robertson in Washington at jrobertson40@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr

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