Edelman (firm)
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| Private | |
| Industry | Public relations |
| Founded | 1952 |
| Founder | Daniel Edelman |
| Headquarters | New York City and Chicago |
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Number of locations
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67 |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Richard Edelman (President and CEO) |
| Revenue | $855m (2016) |
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Number of employees
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5,849 |
| Website | edelman |
Edelman is an American public relations firm founded and named after Daniel Edelman (July 3, 1920 – January 15, 2013) and currently run by his son Richard Edelman. Founded as a team of three in the postwar boom, today the company has revenues of over $855 million annually, employs over 5,800 people with co-headquarters in New York City and Chicago and is the world's largest independently owned public relations firm.
Edelman public relations was founded in Chicago in 1952 by former journalist Daniel J. Edelman as Daniel J. Edelman and Associates. The company started with three employees and grew to serve 25 accounts by 1960. Edelman established a second office in New York that same year and a third in Los Angeles in 1967.
The firm opened offices in London, Canada, Asia and Europe in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The New York office grew from $1 to $20 million in revenues from 1979 to the late 1980s under the leadership of Daniel Edelman's son, Richard Edelman. By 1981, Edelman had five international offices and it opened six more over the following decade. Some former employees and industry experts said its focus on financial growth led to high turnover and client service issues as a result. There was also an unsuccessful attempt by some employees to start their own firm with some of Edelman's clients.
In 1985, the firm's founder, Daniel Edelman, retired and his son Richard Edelman became the new CEO. In the 1990s, offices were opened in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain, South Korea, China, and Belgium. In the United States, a Silicon Valley office was opened in 1992 to serve technology clients, and in Sacramento, California, in 1994. It also opened offices in Florida, Georgia, and Washington. The firm grew to $70 million in revenues by 1994.
In 1995, Edelman was the first public relations firm to have a website and began web-based projects for its clients. By the early 2000s it grew to $210 million with about 25% of revenues coming from Europe. In September 2010, Edelman acquired a Houston-based firm, Vollmer public relations.
An office was opened in Turkey in 2012. By 2012, it had established the Edelman Digital division with about 600 staff and about half of its work was social media-related. It acquired technology public relations firm, A&R, in 2006. In January 2013, the firm launched The Daniel J. Edelman China Group.
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Wikipedia