Avenue A|Razorfish could be up for sale by Microsoft, a spy tells us, possibly to WPP. From the beginning of the relationship, AA|RF has been an odd fit for Microsoft, and based on a few strong indicators, we surmise a sell off before too long.
When you’re spending $6 billion to pick up a company like Redmond, it makes sense to get as much for your money as possible. That seems to be what Microsoft was thinking when they kept AA|RF — but a year later the agency is broadening its horizons, expanding services to “a media and entertainment consulting practice with 200 staffers in New York, L.A. and San Francisco,” according to Silicon Alley Insider.
More after the jump.
Internally, many believe that Microsoft never planned to keep the agency within its roster. For starters, we’ve learned that AA|RF employees haven’t been switched to Microsoft benefits.
Also, the new SF offices are “oddly configured to fit WPP standards, a radical change from the fun, bigger spaces of the old AA/RF office.” I guess you’d have to work at WPP to know exactly what that means — but it sounds as though AA|RF has been told to keep it in its pants if it wants to marry a nice girl one day.
One final oddity, SF based employees were told not to order “new business cards printed with the new office address until future notice.”
By the way, that photo is of actual razorfish. Uh, I guess the image is a razor clam.
Update: We hear Microsoft’s insurance plan is supposedly kicking in next month. Strike that bullet point from the evidence list.