WPP new wedding

acquires majority stake in leading Middle East venture

WPP announces that it has acquired a majority stake in Team Y&R Holdings, the region's largest diversified communications conglomerate, founded by Talal Makdessi (ArabAd Man of the Year 2007), established in 1997 and in which WPP has held a minority stake since 1999, and which operates in the MENA region.

THG's Chairman is Talal Makdessi & Chairman and World President of IAA Joseph Ghossoub is the Director and CEO.

The Holding Group (THG) a.k.a Team , operates through a wide and diversified range of expertise by companies including Team Y&R, Asda’a [its PR unit], Intermarkets, Mediaedge:cia [the media buying unit], Polaris [another PR firm] and Wunderman.

Team Group has significant operations in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, Jordan, Qatar and Oman and employs over 1,200 people. Major clients include Emaar, Etisalat, Alpha Telecom, Royal Jordanian, Almaza Beer, Winston, Ford, LG Electronics, Mashreq Bank, Microsoft, Sony Ericsson, Commercial Bank of Kuwait and Visa.
Team Group’s claimed revenues of US$100 million for 2007, with gross assets of US$242 million.
Such a hulking investment is a first its kind; an acquisition that speaks by itself, and where it looks like WPP has more surprises in store coming our way; as this unexpected move confirms WPP’s new strategy, of a full load roll out and networks development, in fast growing markets and sectors.

To be Continued....

Microsoft bid for Yahoo

Microsoft has proposed to Yahoo's Board Of Directors its interest to acquire all Yahoo shares for $31,
which is currently estimated to be worth $44.6 billion.
The deal is half cash, half stock.

"Today the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote in a letter to Yahoo!'s board of directors.
"Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers and publishers."
By doing so, Microsoft aims to further consolidate the Web advertising industry
and create a credible competitor to Google.

Cristal Awards-Mzaar

The SRC AWARD, ACT Responsible

The competition deadline has been extended until January 31^st 2008.

IAA Socially Responsible Communications Award

The International Advertising Association (IAA) in association with Advertising Community Together (ACT) launches the first worldwide Award to recognise the role of Socially Responsible Communications.

The two main themes are :

• Environnemental Ads: Visual communication examples regarding environmental areas, such as Water Preservation, Climate Change, Biodiversity and natural areas Protection, Desertification, Renewable Energies...
• Social Ads: Visual illustrations on subjects such as Solidarity, Human Rights, Childhood Protection, Poverty, Education, Sanitation, Racism...and also Alcohol Abuse, Drug Addiction, Personal Health, Road Safety, Obesity Prevention, Organ Donation...

Ads created for TV, Cinema, Press, Outdoor, Postcards and Interactive ones published since January 2007 can be submitted.
250 euros is the participation fee for each entry.

All new entries and ads from ACT Responsible Collection 2007 will compete for this Worldwide Award which will be presented during the next IAA World Congress in Washington DC in April 2008. The winners will also be part of the ACT Responsible world exhibition tour.


To submit your work click here

Super-slim MacBook Air

Apple big boss Steve Jobs has just unveiled the ultra-slim MacBook Air laptop computer that he billed as "the world's leanest laptop". At the Macworld Expo opening in San Francisco- January 15, 2008-, Jobs slid the laptop from a brown envelope typically used for inter-office mail.
"It's the world's thinnest notebook (computer)," Jobs said with a smile. "We went out and looked at all the thin notebooks out there and tried to distill a best-of-breed."
The super-slim MacBook Air is less than an inch thick and turns on the moment it's opened. It weighs three pounds and have battery life of five hours. The ultra-lean laptop is priced at 1,799 dollars and will begin shipping in two weeks, Jobs said.





On another level, Jobs pointed out that Apple Inc. has sold four million iPhones since the cellphone, was launched in June 07. He also unveiled iPhone software upgrades including a location-detecting map feature crafted with help from Internet giant Google and wireless communications firm SkyHook.

Google wove a "location finder" into its mobile map service last year. SkyHook has mapped 23 million wireless signal "hot spots" in the United States and Canada, and is working on Europe, and uses the information to triangulate positions of wireless-enabled mobile devices.
"We are using both of them (Google and SkyHook) and it works pretty doggone well," Jobs said while demonstrating the 399-dollar iPhone's new map feature, which is part of a free software upgrade made available this Tuesday(15 jan 08).
"The iPhone is not standing still. We keep making it better."
SkyHook map technology, which works without need of mobile telephone service, will be part of a 20-dollar software upgrade package for iPod Touch devices, Jobs said.

MENA Cristal: ski, fire & creativity

Microsoft on conquest mode

Microsoft Corporation has offered approximately $1.2 billion USD for the acquisition of the Norwegian software firm Fast Search & Transfer, a leading provider of enterprise search solutions.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2008, as the board of Fast has unanimously accepted the takeover offer from Microsoft.
The complete details of the offer, including all terms and conditions, will be drafted in the document expected to be sent to FAST shareholders sometime around January 14th.

Fast Search & Transfer aka FAST focuses on data search technologies. It operates in the enterprise search sector but has over the course of 2007 significantly moved out of this business and towards search monetization and on-line advertising related business. Also Fast offers a number of search-derivative applications, focused on specific search use cases, including publishing, market intelligence and mobile search.


“Enterprise search is becoming an indispensable tool to businesses of all sizes, helping people find, use and share critical business information quickly. Until now organizations have been forced to choose between powerful, high-end search technologies or more mainstream, infrastructure solutions. The combination of Microsoft and FAST gives customers a new choice: a single vendor with solutions that span the full range of customer needs,” said Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division.