Dive Brief:
- Mark Penn, an executive vice president at Microsoft, is leaving the company to found an investment group that will focus on technology-oriented marketing companies.
- The investment firm, Stagwell Group LLC, has raised $250 million with the capacity to make up to $750 million in acquisitions.
- Penn says the firm intends to target mid-sized companies with a digital focus and dynamic, rather than bureaucratic, culture.
Dive Insight:
Microsoft Executive Vice President Mark Penn will leave the tech behemoth in September to head up the Stagwell Group LLC, a firm planning on investing in technology-forward marketing companies.
The firm, which has raised $250 million, has backing former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and through leverage will be able to make up to $750 million in acquisitions. Penn said the Stagwell Group will seek mid-sized companies that are “digital first” and have a dynamic corporate culture.
In a Wall Street Journal article, Penn said, “There’s a lot of room for new blood in the advertising and marketing industry. Every client is looking for how to combine good advertising creative with good data analytics. I don’t think they’re getting those answers from the companies they’ve got, even if they’ve got some of the biggest companies in the world.”
Although the firm will target digital marketing services companies, other potential investment areas include advertising, research, data analytics and public relations.