Publicis to buy Sapient of US for $3.7 billion

French advertising group Publicis said Monday it is to buy Boston-based marketing, communications and consulting firm Sapient for $3.7 billion.

Publicis said that once completed, the all-cash takeover agreed to by both sides will boost its digital and interactive services business to half of the group's total, and lead to higher growth.

The combined group will have annual revenue above 8 billion euros ($10 billion) and more than 75,000 employees worldwide.

The comes six months after the collapse of Publicis' $35 billion merger with Omnicom Group, which had been touted as creating the world's largest advertising firm. The companies blamed an inability of their to agree on a balance of power in the merged company for the deal's collapse.

Paris-based Publicis runs its namesake agency as well as Leo Burnett Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi and DigitasLBi. Last month the group reported for the first nine months of the year was only 1.5 percent, and said it expected it to remain about the same for the rest of the year.

Sapient employs 13,000 people at 37 locations around the world. It reported $1.36 billion in revenue for the 12 months to June 30, 2014.

© 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Citation: Publicis to buy Sapient of US for $3.7 billion (2014, November 3) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2014-11-publicis-sapient-billion.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Publicis targets 50% revenue from digital

0 shares

Feedback to editors