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Razorfish (company)

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(Redirected from Avenue A/Razorfish)
Razorfish
Company typeSubsidiary
Nasdaq: RAZF (1999-2003)
IndustryDigital marketing
Predecessor
  • Razorfish Inc.
  • SBI Razorfish
  • Avenue A | Razorfish
Founded1995 (1995)
New York City, United States
Founders
  • Craig Kanarick
  • Jeff Dachis
Area served
Worldwide
Number of employees
2,000+
ParentPublicis Groupe

Razorfish is an interactive agency part of Publicis Groupe. Razorfish provides services such as web development, media planning and buying, technology and innovation, emerging media, analytics, mobile, advertising, creative, social influence marketing and search.

Razorfish had more than 2,000 employees worldwide, with U.S. offices in New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Portland, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin. In 2005–2007, it expanded overseas through acquisitions in London,[1] Paris,[2] Sydney, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Berlin, Frankfurt,[3] Singapore and a joint venture in Tokyo.[4] In 2013, Razorfish launched its operations in India through the acquisition of Neev Technologies. Razorfish Neev was based in Bangalore and provides outsourced product and application development solutions.[buzzword][5]

In October 2016, Razorfish merged with Sapient Corporation's division SapientNitro (a Publicis Groupe sister company) to form SapientRazorfish.[6]

In July 2018, Publicis announced plans to sunset[buzzword] the SapientRazorfish brand and roll the remaining employees under the Publicis.Sapient organization.

On February 13, 2019, Publicis announced that Publicis.Sapient, SapientRazorfish, and Sapient Consulting had become one brand, Publicis Sapient, led by CEO Nigel Vaz.

On January 14, 2020, Jem Ripley, Publicis Communications East CEO, confirmed that Publicis is bringing back the Razorfish name for its digital marketing agency, consisting of clients that didn't fit into Publicis Sapient's digital transformation strategy.[7]

History

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Beginnings

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Razorfish was started in 1995 in New York by Craig Kanarick and Jeff Dachis. It began in Dachis’s apartment in Manhattan’s Alphabet City. Their first big job was building a small website for the New York Botanical Garden for $20,000, hired by Time Warner’s Pathfinder team.[8] A few months later, they moved to an office at 580 Broadway and hired three new employees.

Early Success

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In 1995, Razorfish made over $300,000, and in 1996, they earned over $1.2 million with a $300,000 profit. They were one of the first companies to create an animated homepage using the “server-push” feature of the Netscape browser. Thanks to this and bold advertising, the company grew fast. They got funding from Omnicom, a traditional media company, along with other new media companies like Agency.com, Red Sky Interactive, Think New Ideas, and Organic. Razorfish used this money to move to new offices, update their branding (including the slogan “Everything that can be digital will be”), and grow their business. Razorfish, along with other New York web design companies, helped form a group of new media businesses called Silicon Alley.

In 1997, Razorfish made over $3.6 million and worked with well-known clients like KPMG and Charles Schwab.[9]

In January 1998, Razorfish bought Avalanche Systems, starting a series of acquisitions. In 1998, they also bought Plastic in San Francisco,[10] London-based CHBi,[11] Los Angeles-based <tag> media, and merged with Spray, a Scandinavian company with offices in Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland), Oslo (Norway), and Hamburg (Germany).[12]

In 1998, Razorfish made over $83 million and was profitable, with over 1,100 employees.[13] In April 1999, they held an initial public offering (IPO), raising $48 million at $16 per share.[8]

In fall 1999, Razorfish bought International Integration, Inc. (I-Cube), a Boston-based company founded by Yannis Doganis, Madhav Anand, and Edouard (Eddie) Aslanian, their biggest deal yet.[14] Sales for 1999 reached over $170 million.

In May 2000, Razorfish started Intervision-Razorfish, a joint venture in Tokyo.[15] Around this time, the dot-com bubble began affecting the industry. Razorfish’s fourth-quarter revenue in 2000 was $50.1 million, a 5% drop from the previous year. Total revenue for 2000 was nearly $268 million. In February 2001, Razorfish laid off 400 employees, about 20% of its staff, as its stock price fell from $57 in February 2000 to just $1 per share.

60 Minutes II Interview

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In February 2000, Craig Kanarick and Jeff Dachis were interviewed on 60 Minutes II by Bob Simon. They struggled to clearly explain what their company did.[16] The interview was widely seen as a failure.[17]

Acquisition by SBI

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In 2003, SBI Group (formerly SBI and Company) bought Razorfish and renamed it SBI.Razorfish.[18] SBI also bought other companies like Scient, iXL, MarchFirst (formerly USWeb and CKS Group), Emerald Solutions, Lante, and Xcelerate.

Acquisition by aQuantive

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In 2004, aQuantive bought SBI.Razorfish and renamed it Avenue A | Razorfish. In 2005, this company had the highest interactive revenue in the U.S., at $189.8 million, according to Ad Age.[19]

Acquisition by Microsoft

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On May 18, 2007, Microsoft announced plans to buy Avenue A | Razorfish as part of a $6.0 billion purchase of aQuantive.[20] The deal closed on August 10, 2007. Razorfish operated independently within Microsoft Advertising, led by Brian McAndrews, former CEO of aQuantive, who reported to Microsoft’s Platforms & Services Division president. On October 20, 2008, the company dropped the Avenue A name and became Razorfish.

In June 2009, Microsoft announced it was selling Razorfish.[21]

Acquisition by Publicis Groupe

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In June 2009, Microsoft said it planned to sell Razorfish, as it competed with Microsoft Advertising’s main business of selling ad technology to rival agencies.[22] On August 9, Paris-based Publicis Groupe bought Razorfish from Microsoft for $530 million in cash and shares, giving Microsoft a 3% stake in Publicis Groupe.[23][24] Clark Kokich was CEO from July 2007 until April 2008, when Bob Lord became CEO, and Kokich became Chairman. In July 2013, Pete Stein became Global CEO after five years in the leadership team. Stein was followed by Tom Adamski, then Shannon Denton. In October 2015, Tom Adamski passed away from cancer.[25]

In 2016, Razorfish merged with SapientNitro to form SapientRazorfish, led by former SapientNitro CEO Alan Wexler, who also became Co-CEO of Publicis. Sapient with Sapient Consulting CEO Chip Register.[26]

References

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  1. ^ Avenue A / Razorfish Acquires U.K.-based Interactive Marketing Agency, DNA, 6 December 2005
  2. ^ Avenue A / Razorfish Snaps Up French Agency, 7 March 2007
  3. ^ Avenue A/Razorfish Enters Germany With Neue Digitale Buy, 9 August, 2006
  4. ^ Avenue A/Razorfish Adds Japanese Outpost 17 January, 2007 Archived 2012-04-15 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Pinto, Viveat (18 April 2013). "Publicis launches digital agency Razorfish in India". Business Standard India.
  6. ^ "SapientRazorfish: What's in a name change and a restructure? Quite a lot, actually".
  7. ^ ago, Erik Oster|1 hour (14 January 2020). "Exclusive: Publicis Groupe Is Reviving Razorfish". www.adweek.com. Retrieved 2020-01-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b "Razorfish, Inc. History". International Directory of Company Histories. Vol. 27. St. James Press. 2001.
  9. ^ "Razorfish, Inc. -- Company History". www.company-histories.com. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  10. ^ "Melding Cultures: No Easy Task When Companies Marry". www.businessweek.com. Archived from the original on September 9, 1999. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  11. ^ "CHBi Razorfish: Private Company Information - Businessweek". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  12. ^ "Razorfish Merges with Europe's Spray Network". www.clickz.com. 12 August 1998. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  13. ^ "Brattitude Adjustment". WIRED. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  14. ^ Short Take: Razorfish acquires i-Cube CNET, November 2, 1999.
  15. ^ "Razorfish Joint Venture Renamed". AdWeek. 2 May 2002. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  16. ^ The Dot-Com Kids CBS News February 15, 2000.
  17. ^ Brattitude Adjustment Wired September 1, 2000.
  18. ^ "SBI and Company Completes Acquisition of Razorfish, Inc". PR Newswire. March 3, 2003. Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  19. ^ Top 50 Interactive Agencies - Advertising Age - DataCenter: Agencies April 28, 2006 (Revised June 5, 2006)
  20. ^ Microsoft Press Release, 18 May 2007
  21. ^ "Microsoft to cut Razorfish loose".
  22. ^ "Microsoft puts Razorfish up for sale". Financial Times. June 28, 2009.
  23. ^ Vranica, Suzanne (August 10, 2009). "Publicis to Buy Razorfish". Wall Street Journal.
  24. ^ Mary Elizabeth Hurn (April 22, 2009). "Razorfish names Bob Lord CEO, Kokich to become chairman". Clark Kokich had served as the CEO of the company since July 2007, however in April 2009, Bob Lord was named the new CEO, while Kokich will took on [sic] the newly formed role of Chairman.
  25. ^ "Razorfish Global CEO Tom Adamski passes". adage.com. October 19, 2015. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  26. ^ "Publicis Merges Digital Shops SapientNitro and Razorfish, Creating SapientRazorfish". 17 November 2016.