Horizon Media Holdings joint venture with Havas Media Network is ‘unsurprising and yet good timing’, according to Damian Ryan, managing partner at Ryan Capital.
Privately owned Horizon and publicly listed Havas announced their jointly owned global agency network, Horizon Global, today (29 September).
Horizon Global will operate independently and the profits will be split evenly between the two companies. The new entity, headquartered in New York, will be staffed by employees from both agencies.
While the agency will service over 100 countries, the focus will be on ‘US-centric global client opportunities’ and the two holding companies will continue to operate separately outside of that. The joint venture will also unite Horizon’s Blue platform and Havas’ Converged.AI system to form BluConverged.
Describing the tie-up as ‘good timing’, Damien Ryan, whose firm advises media and tech clients on mergers, added: ‘The Omnicom / IPG merger will bring about a wave of deals, particularly with sub-optimal agencies, and I guess Horizon Global will provide marketers with another choice.’
Horizon Global will have $20 billion in combined billings, according to a press release issued by Havas — substantial but less than half of the media spend that WPP and Publicis handle.
Bob Lord, the president of Horizon Media Holdings, will serve as the interim CEO of Horizon Global, until a permanent leader is chosen.
Bill Koenigsberg, CEO and founder of Horizon Media Holdings, said: ‘Built exclusively for the needs of the modern global marketer, Horizon Global is rewriting the agency network playbook’.
Main image by Nik Shuliahin
