Microsoft to spin-off Razorfish: reports
29 Jun 2009
According to reports, Microsoft has hired Morgan Stanley to sell its digital agency, Razorfish, and French marketing company, Publicis Groupe SA could be a possible contender.
The agency had been acquired by Microsoft as part aQuantive for which it paid $6 billion in 2007.
Analysts have valued Razorfish at $600 million to $700 million, based on sales of about $400 million last year and profit margins for similar businesses of 12 to 13 per cent, according to reports.
Razorfish is one of the largest interactive advertising and marketing agencies with a clientèle including McDonald's Corp, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Carnival Cruise Lines.
Microsoft and Publicis are no strangers since just last week, VivaKi, the digital arm of Publicis Groupe and Microsoftt said that they would collaborate to drive the level of marketing performance, build increasingly engaging content for consumers and help better define audiences by using Microsoft technology for advertising on television set-top boxes.
Seattle-based Razorfish, is one of the largest digital agencies, with more than 2,000 employees.