KSL Seeks Freedom From New Parent IPG

NEW YORK — KSL Media is in final negotiations to buy itself back from parent Interpublic Group of Cos.

“KSL was built to be entrepreneurial and nimble, and it’s difficult to behave that way if you have to follow the dictates of the stock market above and beyond all else,” said president Kal Liebowitz. “Clients’ spending is down, and they want an agency that has maximizing their money as a top priority, not one that’s going to force them to spend so that the agency’s balance sheet looks better versus another corporation.”