Publicis buy largest privately owned digital agency for $575 million

According to Advertising Age, the deal gives Publicis three of the 10 top digital shops by 2010 revenue: No. 1 is Digitas, No. 4 Razorfish, and No. 8 Rosetta.

The deal represents a change of heart for Rosetta CEO Chris Kuenne, who told U.S. 1 in March 2010:

“We are really focused on becoming the No. 1 interactive agency on the planet. Numbers 1 and 2 (Digitas and Razorfish) were recently acquired by Publicis. We are growing faster and are more profitable than they. While we are smaller than those two companies today, we are on a trajectory—we grew by 35 percent in 2008 and they grew eight percent. Our profitability is 70 percent higher than the industry average.”