Publicis pays $ $4.4 bi for data agency

The Agency Publicis announced on Sunday, 14, who will shell out $ $4.4 billion (about $17.1 R billion) in acquisition of Epsilon, marketing unit of Alliance Data Systems. It is the largest purchase in the history of the French group, the third largest advertising market in the world, owner of agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett. With the deal, the Group wants to strengthen the area of data analysis to recover the ground lost in recent years to the technology industry giants such as Facebook and Google, which earn 86% of the digital advertising market. The operation sets another record in the advertising market, which dated back to 2014, when the Publicis bought the technology consultant Sapient. "We're in a world where data is the heart of all decisions and the phone became our main device," says Arthur Sadoun, ceo of Publicis. The forecast for the formal completion of the deal is for the third quarter of 2019, after authorisation of all regulators. With the deal, the French multinational will be able to expand your presence in the United States, say analysts. The announcement comes two weeks after the Alliance Data said it was negotiating with the French company. The acquisition should ensure the French company access to databases of Epsilon, estimated at 250 million consumers only in the United States. "The purchase of Epsilon boost Publicis as leader of custom experiences on data," said the French advertising company in a statement. The business is going in the direction of a pattern in the advertising market, in which giants come to invest in data providers. Last week, the Interpublic Group closed agreement to acquire Acxiom for $ $2.3 billion. In 2016, the Dentsu Aegis bought control of Merkle.