Edelman:

What is Edelman?

Edelman is a global US public relations network founded and named after Daniel Edelman. It is now run by his son Richard Edelman. It has revenues of more than $855 million annually, employs more than 5,800 people with co-headquarters in New York City and Chicago and is the world’s largest independently owned public relations firm.

History

Edelman was founded in Chicago in 1952 by former journalist Daniel J. Edelman as Daniel J. Edelman and Associates. The company began with three employees and grew to carry all 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 dollar 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 opened six more over the next decade. Some former employees and industry experts said its focus on financial growth led to high turnover and customer service problems as a result. There was also a failed attempt by some employees to start their own company 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, an office was opened in Silicon Valley in 1992 and another in Sacramento, California, in 1994. It also opened offices in Florida, Georgia and Washington. During 1994 the firm grew to $70 million in revenues.

In 1995, Edelman was the first public relations firm to have a web site and start web-based projects. In the early 2000s it grew to $210 million, with about 25% of revenues coming from Europe. In September 2010, Edelman acquired a Houston-based company, Vollmer public relations.

In Turkey it opened an office in 2012. And by this year it had established the Edelman Digital division with about 600 staff and about half of its work was media-related. It acquired the technology PR firm, A&R, in 2006.

During January 2013, the firm launched The Daniel J. Edelman China Group.