The French marketing giant Publicis buys its counterpart Epsilon for around 4 billion dollars. With the incorporation of Epsilon, which is still owned by Alliance Data Systems, the company wants to strengthen its position in online advertising.

In addition to its peers WPP and Omnicom, Publicis has traditionally been one of the biggest players in the advertising world. Recently, the position of these companies has weakened with the shift to more online advertising. They are increasingly losing ground to consultancy companies and internet giants such as Google and Facebook.

“With the acquisition of Epsilon, Publicis brings in the necessary technological knowledge, expertise and talent to complement our offer”, explains CEO Arthur Sadoun.

Investors were not enthusiastic about rumors about interest in Epsilon, due to doubts in feasibility of such a large acquisition.