AGENCY.COM in New York and Interactive Solutions in
Boston said they have agreed to combine the two companies to form a new
interactive firm.
The new company will be headquartered in New York and retain the AGENCY.COM
name. Omnicom Group Inc. will have a 40% ownership interest in the combined
company. Financial details were not disclosed.
The new AGENCY.COM will have projected 1998 revenue from interactive services
of some $60 million and 375 employees with offices in New York, Boston, San
Francisco, Dallas, and London, the company said.
No layoffs are anticipated as a result of the merger; and, in fact, the merged
company
will actively seek additional staff, officials said.
Chris Butler, president and CEO of Interactive Solutions, will become chairman
and Chan Suh, chairman and CEO of AGENCY.COM, will become CEO of the new
entity. Interactive Solutions’ Boston office will become AGENCY.COM: Boston.
Thor Johnson, currently Interactive Solutions Chief Operating Officer, will
become president of that office.
Kyle Shannon will be chief creative officer and Ken Trush will be chief
financial officer of the merged company. All other executives of both
AGENCY.COM and Interactive Solutions will retain their current roles and
titles.
Suh said, “When Chris Butler and I began talking we saw immediate synergies
and realized that a merger would bring unique benefits to our respective
clients. The combination of AGENCY.COM’s creative strength and its ability to
manage
significant worldwide interactive relationships together with Interactive
Solutions’ expertise in developing business strategies for sophisticated
interactive business, brand orientation and enterprise-scale integration
skills will benefit all of our clients.”
The new AGENCY.COM will have as clients ACE, American Express, Boots
the Chemist, BMG Interactive, British Airways, BT, General Motors, Glaxo
Wellcome, GTE, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi America,
Lucent Technologies, Malden Mills, MetLife, Nationwide Insurance, Nickelodeon,
PBHG Funds Inc., Putnam Investments, Prudential, Reuters, Showtime Networks,
The
Economist Group, Uncle Ben’s, Unilever and Xerox.
