International news: WPP buys into Globant
By Adnews Staff
WPP has agreed to acquire 20% ownership of Globant, a company based in Buenos Aires that specializes in software for digital marketing campaigns. The company employs 2,700 staff in 21 offices in 14 cities in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, the United States and the United Kingdom. Globant's clients include American Express, JP Morgan Chase & Co., LinkedIn, Electronic Arts, Google, Coca-Cola, National Geographic, Zynga and Sabre Holdings, as well as WPP companies including JWT, Young & Rubicam, Grey, GroupM and Kantar. Its net revenue for 2011 was US$90 million. WPP's stake will cost approximately $70 million, according to the company. "Increasingly, clients want better coordination between their IT departments and their marketing departments, between their chief information officers and their chief marketing officers," said WPP CEO Martin Sorrell. "There are many consulting companies or digital agencies that are expert in one function or the other. Few, if any, do both and even fewer can integrate deep technical and creative capabilities on a global scale as Globant does. Partnering with Globant will allow our companies to increasingly provide our clients with insights and skills that will make their digital marketing efforts even more effective and simpler to manage at both the front and back ends."