Reputation.com
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | CEO |
Number of employees | 490 |
Website | reputation.com |
Reputation (formally Reputation.com and ReputationDefender) is a business-to-business
History
Reputation.com was founded as ReputationDefender by Michael Fertik[2] in 2006.[3] In January 2011, the company changed its name from ReputationDefender to Reputation.com as its focus changed to enterprise services.[4] The business-to-consumer product line continued to be sold under the ReputationDefender name. In 2018, the business-to-consumer subsidiary was sold, along with related assets and liabilities. Joe Fuca, former DocuSign vice president and FinancialForce president, was named as CEO in August 2018.[5]
In 2018 the company sold the ReputationDefender business line and related assets and liabilities to the Stagwell Group. The sale included all consumer-related businesses, including its privacy- and reputation-related services for individuals.[6] ReputationDefender was acquired by Norton in 2021.[7]
In March 2020, Reputation.com announced the appointment of Rebecca Biestman as the company's new CMO.[8]
ReputationDefender and early services
Under the brand ReputationDefender and up until 2018, the company offered
The company initially charged about fifteen dollars per client, and has asked for at least $1,000 a year for its services.[9][13] In 2007, it introduced a $10,000 service for executives.[14] Some of the company's software included scoring systems used to identify consumer information and generate reputation scores for individuals.[15] It had software that located websites where an individual's personal data was unknowingly listed and attempted to get it delisted. It can also tracked online reviews and contacted customers to solicit for positive reviews, but could also hide legitimate criticisms about a company, which the Fatrik had stated is a legitimate criticism of its business model.[16] The company served industries including healthcare, retail, automotive, restaurants, and property management. Significant publicly disclosed clients include Banner Health, BMW, Ford Motor Company, Hertz, General Motors, Sutter Health, US Bank and as of 2017 had approximately 750 other enterprise customers in 77 industry verticals.[17][18]
Reputation.com services
After the sale ReputationDefender in 2018,[6] Reputation.com has reestablished itself as a software-as-a-service provider.
Reception
In 2012,
According to
In 2008, former AutoAdmit administrator Anthony Ciolli filed a lawsuit against Reputation.com, among other defendants.[20][21] The suit was in response to a lawsuit brought against Ciolli by two Yale Law School students for being defamed on the Internet message board, which is a forum for current and prospective law school students.[22] Ciolli claims to have lost a job offer as a result of negative publicity from the original suit.[22]
In a 2009 paper in the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, law professor Ann Bartow said Reputation.com exploited the harassment of women on the Internet for media attention.[23]
Two months after the company was founded, ReputationDefender was hired to remove online images of 18-year-old Nikki Catsouras's lethal car accident, which police said was leaked by an officer. The company was able to get the images taken down on about 300 out of 400 websites. The New York Post said their effort was "surprisingly effective" but raised concerns that its polite letters were resulting in censorship of material offensive to their clients.[9] Newsweek said it was ineffective. ReputationDefender said removing the images was an "unwinnable battle".[24]
References
- ^ "Our Story".
- ^ a b c d Lavallee, Andrew (June 13, 2007). "Firms Tidy up Clients' Bad Online Reputations". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ a b c Gilbertson, Scott (7 November 2006). "Delete Your Bad Web Rep". Wired. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
- ^ "ReputationDefender Changes Name To Reputation.com". Dow Jones & Company, Inc. January 14, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
- ^ "Reputation.com hires former DocuSign, FinancialForce exec as CEO to help with shift to enterprise model". www.bizjournals.com.
- ^ a b "Term Sheet - Thursday April 5". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ^ "NortonLifeLock Acquisition". ReputationDefender. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
- ^ Inc, Reputation com (2020-03-11). "Reputation.com Welcomes Rebecca Biestman as Chief Marketing Officer". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
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has generic name (help) - ^ ISBN 978-1-4516-5051-8.
- ^ a b Tom McNichol (2012-02-02). "Fixing the Reputations of Reputation Managers". Businessweek. Archived from the original on February 6, 2012.
- ^ Greenburg, Andy (May 15, 2008). "Covering the worlds of data security, privacy and hacker culture". Forbes.
- ^ "Internet Sheriff". Harvard magazine. September–October 2010.
- ^ Hindman, Nate (February 2, 2012). "Google Problems? BrandYourself Helps You Control Search Results of Your Name". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
- ^ "Web Attack". Bloomberg Businessweek. April 6, 2007. Archived from the original on April 8, 2007. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
- ^ "A Vault for Taking Charge of Your Online Life", The New York Times, December 8, 2012.
- ^ "Reputation.com spots, cleans up online blemishes". Biz Journals. July 13, 2012. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
- ^ Barkholz, David (January 24, 2015). "Reputation.com managing online reputation for Ford dealers". AutoNews.com. Automotive News. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
- ^ Singer, Natasha (December 8, 2012). "A Vault for taking charge of your online life". The New York Times. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
- ^ "IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF PHILADELPHIA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA" (PDF). Dmlp.org. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
- ^ Jones, Leigh (10 April 2009). "Former AutoAdmit Exec's False-Suit Claim Lives On". The National Law Journal. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
- ^ a b Nolan, Christan (26 March 2008). "Yale Law School Defamation Case Explores Anonymous Web Site Users' Free Speech Rights". The Connecticut Law Tribune. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
- ^ Bartow, Ann. "Internet Defamation as Profit Center" (PDF). Harvard Journal of Law & Gender. pp. 383–430.
- ^ "One Family's Fight Against Grisly Web Photos". Newsweek. 24 April 2009. p. 3. Retrieved 2009-04-28.