WPP in the Know and on the Grow, MSFT not too Slow
Today's news brings interesting information on the WPP Group's growing interest in the Internet. Two items of interest demonstrating their strategy were reviewed in the mainstream media today. The first and larger of the two is that WPP has agreed to purchase Internet Ad distributor 24/7 Real Media (TFSM) for $637 million in cash according to the Financial Times and interesting $649 million according to the New York Times. I wonder where that extra $12 million came from and why the discrepancy in reporting from these two media powerhouses? (Note: It was explained by the WPP website press release announcement on the acquisition explaining the purchase price as being $649 million based on $637 million to shareholders and "Unvested stock and options are valued at US$49 million and net cash is expected be approximately US$37 million to value TFSM at US$649 million.")
24/7 Real Media will continue to be run as an independent entity within WPP to allow for it to service a broad range of competing ad agencies and clients according to the reports. The New York-based company had sales of around $200 million and provides services in 12 countries according to the press release.
In other WPP news today, The Wall Street Journal reports on the WPP Group's agency Kansas City-based VML and their brand monitoring software SEER that is "Monitoring thousands of web sites for key phrases, SEER tracks how criticism or praise of a company spreads from one blog site to another." The brand monitoring technology is reportedly similar to that of Nielsen's Buzz Metrics* and NameProtect a Madison-based company acquired earlier this Spring by Corporation Services Company that I discussed in my article on Brand Protection in the Age of Digital Engagement that was published a couple of months ago on Wisconsin Technology Network.
Meanwhile in an even bigger deal showing the projected growth and belief in the advertising market, Microsoft (MSFT) announced the $6 billion purchase of aQuantive (AQNT) a leading Internet Advertising player. It was interesting to see that while the deal was announced on the Microsoft website, I didn't see it on the aQuantive home page. The only indication of the action was in the significant increase in the share price on their investor relations page.
These purchases follow Google's acquisition of DoubleClick earlier this spring.
*(Aside - Interesting to see Nielsen Buzz Metrics branding strategy of an endorsed brand, while VML is kept in WPP's portfolio as part of a house of brands.)
