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Redundancies at Xaxis following merger with 24/7 Media

Xaxis logoXaxis, WPP’s real-time trading unit, is making a number of redundancies in Asia following its merger with ad tech brand 24/7 Media.

Among the redundancies, reported by Mumbrella Asia this morning, is James Welch, regional director of the Media Innovation Group, which was folded into Xaxis as part of the merger.

Xaxis Asia Pacific MD Michel de Rijk told Mumbrella that while there would inevitably be redundancies as a result of the merger, the number of lay-offs would not be as high as in the US or Europe where the Xaxis brand is more established.

Xaxis, which is part of the GroupM stable that includes media agency brands MEC, Mindshare, MediaCom and Maxus, has yet to launch in key Asian markets such as Japan and Korea. It has a presence in China, India, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, where it is regionally headquartered.

Xaxis and 24/7 Media merged to form what WPP claims is the world’s largest audience buying firm in December of last year, and competes with the likes of IPG’s Cadreon, Publicis Groupe’s Audience On Demand and Omnicom’s Accuen.

Michel de Rijk

Michel de Rijk

De Rijk said he was confident that Xaxis would continue on a growth trajectory over the next 12 months. The company has grown revenue by 700 per cent and increased staff numbers from three to just under 100 in the last 15 months, he said.

It has been an eventful few days for real-time trading in Asia, with RTB tech firm Brandscreen, which has offices in Australia, China and Singapore, having entered into administration.
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