aQuantive, an online advertising company, made known to be acquiring the assets of Web design firm SBI.Razorfish, a provider of Web sites, microsites and e-commerce tools. Under the new deal, aQuantive's interactive ad agency Avenue A and SBI.Razorfish will be merged into Avenue A/Razorfish. The new merger will provide customers with online marketing and Web site design services.
The new deal reflects the increasing importance of Web site in the marketing mix that is placed special emphasis upon by aQuantive. In this sense, the company is looking forward to the expansion in its agency business, adding 500 employees and nine U.S. offices. The staff of the new merger will also feature most SBI.Razorfish employees.
The acquisition has been negotiated for the price of $160 million in cash and convertible notes. AQuantive would pay $85 million in cash and $75 million in convertible notes for SBI.Razorfish, a division of SBI Group. SBI.Razorfish had $93 million in net revenue in 2003 and was profitable.
