French advertising company Publicis Groupe SA says it is buying Microsoft Corp.'s digital advertising firm Razorfish, according to a joint statement released Sunday, AP reported. According to the statement, the transaction is being valued at $530 million, which is to be provided in a combination of cash and Pubicis Groupe treasury shares. As part of the deal with Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, Razorfish will continue to operate under its brand name and be part of VivaKi. VivaKi is the new Publicis Group entity created in June 2008 to reflect independent operations of Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group, Denuo and ZenithOptimedia.
