The news came out Sunday that Publicis purchased Razorfish from Microsoft for $530M. Good deal for Microsoft: by shedding the agency, their online advertising business can focus entirely on advertising enablement, with assets like Bing, Atlas, AdECN & MSN. There are some rumors that they turned down a higher offer from Dentsu, but that might be due to the fact that Publicis has agreed to buy a set amount of media through Microsoft over the next few years. Hard to imagine any other reason to turn down the extra money.
As for Publicis, they got a real steal here. No way they could have gotten Razorfish for $530M two years ago, and by being opportunistic now, they’ve broadened their digital reach. Publicis has already said that, while Razorfish will continue to operate autonomously, they’ll join Digitas, Starcom MediaVest and ZenithOptimedia in their Vivaki Nerve Center. But I think what would potentially be more interesting is to see Razorfish partner closely with one of Publicis’ traditional shops (e.g. Saatchi & Saatchi) that complements their digital cred.
In any case, between this and today’s Facebook/Friendfeed announcement, it’s nice to see M&A activity picking up again in the online realm.
Related posts:
- Web Shops Go From Underdogs to Top Dogs Web Shops Go From Underdogs to Top Dogs. A couple...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
