By Stephen Foster on March 12, 2013
Then there were three? There are four big marcoms holding companies (if you exclude Dentsu which is still 90 per cent Japan as it waits for clearance from China to buy Aegis): WPP, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe and interpublic (IPG). Late last year all the chatter was that Publicis Groupe had made an informal approach for [...]
Posted in Agencies, Finance, News | Tagged Interpublic, IPG, Jim Edwards, Maurice Levy, Michael Roth, omnicom, publicis groupe, takeover, WPP
By Stephen Foster on February 18, 2013
Media takeovers are all the rage at the moment – the latest being Liberty Global’s $20bn deal for Virgin Media – and the boys in dark glasses who still inhabit the undergrowth of the City of London financial district are busy speculating that someone or other is intent on taking out ITV, the UK’s biggest [...]
Posted in Finance, Media, News | Tagged Adam Crozier, itv, Kevin Lygo, liberty global, private equity, takeover, virgin media
By Stuart Smith on August 4, 2012
The market, as I said last week, is awash with rumours that Publicis Groupe is about to pounce on poor old Interpublic Group. No, really – seriously awash. So much so that IPG stock had jumped more than ten per cent to $10.87 (when I last looked) on speculation that PG is considering a $15-a-share [...]
Posted in Agencies, Clients, Finance, News | Tagged Creston, Interpublic, Isabelle Simon, Maurice Levy, Michael Roth, procter & gamble, publicis groupe, takeover, unilever
By Stuart Smith on July 13, 2012
Cynics might say that £3.2bn – cash – is an awful lot to pay for digital competence and a superior market rating. And they have a point. Would Dentsu ever had planned such an audacious and costly coup as the acquisition of Aegis Group had the Japanese advertising group earlier succeeded in its seemingly knock-out [...]
Posted in Agencies, Clients, Finance, Media, News | Tagged aegis, dentsu, groupm, Interpublic, Jerry Buhlmann, publicis groupe, Tadashi Ishii, takeover, vivaki, WPP
By Stephen Foster on July 12, 2012
As delivered to Ad Age, just as BBH boss Nigel Bogle did last week when BBH sold the outstanding 51 per cent shareholding to Publicis Groupe for, we think, about €100m. Can’t think why they don’t share these intelligences with us. Aegis got very cross with us for suggesting that its $3bn global account win [...]
Posted in Agencies, Clients, Finance, Media, News | Tagged Ad Age, aegis, dentsu, general motors, havas, Jerry Buhlmann, Joel Ewanick, publicis groupe, takeover, toyota, Vincent Bollore, WPP
By Stephen Foster on July 12, 2012
Well we didn’t see this one coming. Aegis, the global media planning and buying group, has agreed a $3.16bn sale to Japanese marcoms giant Dentsu, owner of the Mcgarrybowen creative agency. The 240p a share offer is a 48 per cent premium to yesterday’s share price in London which valued the company at £1.9bn. So, [...]
Posted in Agencies, Clients, Finance, Media, News, Research | Tagged aegis, carat, dentsu, ipsos, Jerry Buhlmann, synovate, takeover, Vincent Bollore, vizeum
By Stephen Foster on June 20, 2012
And then there was – nobody of much note (LBi possibly excepted) among digital agencies and Wieden+Kennedy and Mother holding out against the mighty wallets of the big marcoms companies in the creative sector. AKQA, the world’s biggest digital agency, has agreed to become part of Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP empire for about $540m; some [...]
Posted in Agencies, Finance, News | Tagged $540m deal, Ajaz Ahmed, akqa, digital agency, Sir Martin Sorrell, takeover, Tom Bedecarre, WPP
By Stephen Foster on June 1, 2012
Sacked Mirror editors Richard Wallace (Daily) and Tina Weaver (Sunday) were plotting a buyout of their employer Trinity Mirror’s national titles before they were unceremoniously given the boot on Wednesday, according to the Telegraph’s media editor Katherine Rushton. It’s not clear from Rushton’s story, which was rubbished this morning by former Mirror editor Roy Greenslade [...]
Posted in Finance, Media, News | Tagged daily mirror, David Grigson, Katherine Rushton, Richard Wallace, Sly Bailey, sunday mirror, takeover, Telegraph, Tina Weaver, trinity mirror
By Stephen Foster on March 9, 2012
It all seems a long time ago now but, pre-dating the phone hacking scandal’s full glory, the big media story in the UK was News Corporation’s bid to buy the 61 per cent of UK pay-TV operator BSkyB it didn’t already own. News Corp was prepared to pay £8bn for the remainder of highly-profitable and [...]
Posted in Finance, Media, News, Politics | Tagged bskyb, Chase Carey, James Murdoch, Jeremy Darroch, news corporation, News International, news of the world, ofcom, phone hacking, Rupert Murdoch, takeover
By Stephen Foster on February 24, 2012
The UK’s only two remaining independent terrestrial TV companies – STV which operates in Scotland and UTV Media in Northern Ireland – are both in the takeover frame following recent troubles. STV, formerly Scottish Television and best known for its long-running Taggart crime series – has slipped to a £900,000 loss following the £18m settlement [...]
Posted in Finance, Media, News | Tagged Adam Crozier, apple, Archie Norman, carlton, Fru Hazlitt, GMTV, granada, internet tv, itv, John McGuckian, legal action, Simon Daglish, stv, taggart, takeover, talksport, tvc holdings, utv
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