Dive Brief:

• Software and data provider ZoomInfo CFO Peter Cameron Hyzer will depart from his role as finance chief and principal financial officer effective Sept. 6, the company said Monday in a securities filing. Vice President of FP&A, Michael Graham O’Brien, was appointed as interim finance chief as of the effective date, with Hyzer staying on in an advisory capacity until Oct. 7 to ensure an orderly transition.
• In a separate Monday release, the software provider — which offers a commercial search engine product and contact database, largely aimed at businesses — also announced changes to its board, appointing Domenic Maida and Owen Wurzbacher as independent directors effective Tuesday.
• The leadership changes come as the Vancouver, Washington-based company continues to struggle with macroeconomic pressures, reporting a 6% year-over-year decline in revenue to $291.5 million for its second quarter on Monday, which missed previous guidance of between $306 million to $309 million. Shares of the company plunged by approximately 16% following its earnings report and leadership announcement and have continued to tumble Tuesday.

Dive Insight:

ZoomInfo has begun a search for a permanent CFO, according to a Monday press release. In association with Hyzer’s departure, the software company expects to enter “into a customary separation and release agreement, the terms of which will be disclosed if and when determined by the parties,” according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the company’s latest proxy filed in March, Hyzer is entitled to a lump sum payment equal to 12 months of his annual base salary, plus 100% of his annual target cash bonus for the year minus any amounts paid, should his employment be terminated without cause or he resigns for good reason. For the full-year 2023, Hyzer received total compensation of $573,250, including an annual base salary of $562,000, and did not receive a bonus.

Hyzer was appointed ZoomInfo’s CFO in 2018, just prior to its acquisition by DiscoverOrg in 2019. Hyzer retained the role of finance chief for the combined company, which operates under the ZoomInfo banner.

His successor O’Brien, a six-year veteran of the company, has served as its VP, FP&A since last January, according to his LinkedIn profile. His previous roles at the software provider include a stint as interim head of accounting in 2018. Prior to joining ZoomInfo in 2017, he held numerous executive roles for companies including Rain King Solutions and Kaseya.

O’Brien will be stepping into the interim CFO chair as ZoomInfo looks to artificial intelligence to help bolster its financials and customer retention. The company recorded a net loss of $24.4 million for its most recent quarter ended June 30, compared to a loss of $38.1 million in the prior year period. ZoomInfo also lowered its guidance for its full year 2024, now expecting GAAP revenues of between $1.190 billion to $1.205 billion as compared to the range of $1.255 billion to $1.27 billion outlined in its previous quarter.

The software provider has taken numerous steps to improve its future financial position, including making a change in estimates during the quarter related to the collection of its receivables, as well as a shift to its operational procedures that now require upfront pre-payment from smaller customers.

As a result, ZoomInfo recorded incremental charges of $33 million primarily related to the shift in estimates, where “$15 million was recorded against revenue, $14 million was recorded as bad debt expense, and $4 million was related to other discrete items,” according to its earnings results.

However, the company also reported a 23% uptick year over year in its operations and data as a service offerings, which are “often used to help underpin a company's investment in AI,” CEO Henry Schuck said Monday during the Q2 earnings call. The solutions now represent 13% of ZoomInfo’s annual contract volume, Shuck said.

The software provider also announced numerous AI initiatives over the course of the past quarter, releasing an AI-powered platform called ZoomInfo Copilot in May which brings artificial intelligence solutions to its business-to-business data base, according to a press release. The company is also one of several third-party data providers Google is leaning on to help it weed out hallucinations and better train its generative AI tools, according to a June report by VentureBeat.

ZoomInfo will be looking to Copilot to bolster its customer relationships, with the company reporting positive results following its first full month offering the product in June, Schuck said Monday.

“Early signs show that Copilot is expanding our value beyond top of funnel to support go-to-market teams along the entirety of the funnel,” he said, highlighting an “aggressive Copilot roadmap” to come.

“With the traction we are seeing on Copilot and our operations and Data-as-a-Service products, we believe we'll be able to continue to win new customers and increase upsells to our existing base, a key driver of net retention,” Schuck said.

ZoomInfo declined to comment on its leadership shifts or quarterly results beyond the details included in its press releases.