Razorfish And Digitas To Share Support Operations; Denuo CEO Tobaccowala Relinquishes Post

VivaKi

As Publicis Group finishes up the integration of its two interactive shops, Razorfish and Digitas, under its VivaKi unit, the agencies will start sharing support functions, starting with finance and human resources, the company said. In addition, Denuo, VivaKi’s in-house think tank, will also align with Razorfish and Digitas. Laura Lang, Digitas’ CEO, will be in charge of the unit. As a result, Rishad Tobaccowala will give up his post as Denuo’s CEO. He will remain with the company, but as a consultant and what the press release described as a “mentor.” A VivaKi rep said that it wasn’t known how many jobs would be cut as a result of the consolidation of the support services and Denuo, saying the company was still trying to find other roles for staffers. In the meantime, vacancies that currently exist will not be filled, the rep said. The moves come about two months after Publicis’ $530 million acquisition of Razorfish from Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) was finally closed. More to come

Over the past few weeks, a number of high-profile execs have left from VivaKi. Just this week, Patrick Moorhead defected from his Razorfish as director of emerging media to join Interpublic Group’s Draftfcb, where he will head up the agency’s new mobile platforms practice. A month ago, Razorfish lost two top executives, Chief Strategy Officer Jeff Lanctot and Managing Director Jim Watson, who both chose to remain with Microsoft. Outside of Razorfish, Tim Hanlon, who helped launch Denuo, exited from his role as EVP and managing director of VivaKi Ventures, Publicis

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