Microsoft considers Razorfish sale - Warc News

News: June 30, 2009

REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft, the IT giant, is reported to be interested in selling Razorfish, the digital advertising agency, which it acquired two years ago as part of its $6 billion (€4.3bn; £3.6bn) takeover of aQuantive.

According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has approached various advertising agency holding groups to assess whether they would be willing to purchase its digital ad unit.

While any talks are thought to be at a very early stage, Microsoft is said to be working with Morgan Stanley in an effort to offload Razorfish.

The agency has worked on campaigns for clients including Mercedes-Benz USA and MillerCoors, but its current owner was always more interested in the technology owned by aQuantive than entering the digital advertising market directly.

Indeed, the WSJ argues that owning the agency may place Microsoft in a difficult situation, as Razorfish is competing with other ad agencies that Microsoft is trying to attract to use its online ad services.

Data sourced from Wall Street Journal; additional content by WARC staff, 30 June 2009

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