Microsoft eyes sale of Razorfish

Matt Kapko
  • Matt Kapko
Posted on June 29, 2009

Microsoft is looking to rid itself of interactive ad shop Razorfish in a sale, paidContent reports, citing more details from the Financial Times.

Microsoft acquired Razorfish in its $6 billion purchase of aQuantive nearly two years ago. The current value of Razorfish is pegged at between $600 million and $700 million, according to an unidentified analyst in the Financial Times article.

Publicis Groupe is said to be considering a bid, and others are waiting to see if WPP Groupe will show any newfound interest after walking away from a potential acquisition last summer.

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Comments

Warren Lee
Warren Lee June 30, 2009 at 1:09 PM

With the level of professionalism and their years of experience in the digital space, not to mention their growing list of clients, a $700 price tag for RazorFish seems about right. I think it also represents a decent deal for Microsoft, who many feel paid just a bit of a premium for Acquantive.

Ryan Buchanan
Ryan Buchanan June 30, 2009 at 9:29 AM

Robert - I'm pretty sure Microsoft bought Acquantive (which Razorfish was 1 of 3 divisions of) for a huge premium primarily because of the main Ad Network software division called Atlas. They did it as a reaction to Google buying DoubleClick. I have never worked at either company, but as an entrepreneur, I think the lesson is to be incredibly strategic to the company who buys you. I'm sure Microsoft has leveraged the Atlas aquisition and is pretty happy with it. I dug up this article from the past:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/18/microsoft-pays-6-billion-for-aquantive/

Cheers.

Ryan Buchanan
Ryan Buchanan June 30, 2009 at 9:29 AM

Robert - I'm pretty sure Microsoft bought Acquantive (which Razorfish was 1 of 3 divisions of) for a huge premium primarily because of the main Ad Network software division called Atlas. They did it as a reaction to Google buying DoubleClick. I have never worked at either company, but as an entrepreneur, I think the lesson is to be incredibly strategic to the company who buys you. I'm sure Microsoft has leveraged the Atlas aquisition and is pretty happy with it. I dug up this article from the past:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/18/microsoft-pays-6-billion-for-aquantive/

Cheers.

Robert Paltos
Robert Paltos June 29, 2009 at 4:46 PM

Where were reasonable executives playing...in what financial sandbox...what logic behind all of this. Our ad community has seen this replayed over the last several years...buying sites, newspapers, agencies, etc...at enormously distorted investment outlays...at the hyper end of reality. AND, ultimately finding...what's the real value...what's the loss at hand...who will pay even 1/4 of what "we paid"...? Doesn't anyone regard 'history'...financials, results or otherwise...or has it all become a Lotto crap-shoot...!