S4 Capital, Sir Martin Sorrell’s new venture, announced that it is acquiring programmatic marketing services agency MightyHive for $150 million. MightyHive is S4 Capital’s second acquisition after Amsterdam based digital agency MediaMonks.
Sir Martin Sorrell launched S4 Capital in May, within weeks of resigning as chief executive of WPP, the world’s biggest advertising company, amidst an investigation into misconduct. Sorrell has openly denied any wrongdoing.
Founded in 2012, MightyHive has posted a strong growth record in recent years, having increased revenue from 2015 to 2017 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 129%. Headquartered in San Francisco, and has offices in New York, London, Toronto, Singapore, Stockholm and Sydney, MiightyHive is branded as a “new breed of media consultancy” providing media operations, training services, data strategy, and analytics.
After the acquisitions of MediaMonks and MightyHive, S4 Capital intends to provide global and regional brands with digital marketing services.
Sorrell said: “The merger with MightyHive marks an important second strategic step for S4 Capital. The peanut has now morphed into a coconut and is growing and ripening. MediaMonks’ award-winning digital creative production and MightyHive’s market-leading programmatic offering will give S4 Capital’s clients end-to-end, fully integrated and seamless capabilities in purely digital marketing.” S4’s focus on being close to Silicon Valley in California would “intensify,” Sorrell added, following the MightyHive acquisition and the opening of a MediaMonks office in San Francisco.
“The merger with MightyHive marks an important second strategic step for S4 Capital,” said Sorrell. “The peanut has now morphed into a coconut and is growing and ripening. Clients of all kinds want services delivered faster, better and cheaper, by more agile and responsive organizations.”
As a result of the acquisition, MightyHive will become a wholly owned subsidiary of S4 Capital. As part of the deal, MightyHive Chief Executive Peter Kim will join the S4 board of directors, alongside Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder Christopher Martin. Both will remain in their existing roles. Sorrell is also making MediaMonks co-founders Victor Knaap and Wesley ter Haar, as well as the agency’s chief financial officer Peter Rademaker, directors of S4.
