1999 THE YEAR IN REVIEW: Myriad mergers. Corporate restructurings Million-dollar accounts. The ongoing battle with advertising. It was a busy year for the industry. PRWeek looks back.

AGENCY ACQUISITIONS

AGENCY ACQUISITIONS

There has never been a year like 1999 for mergers and acquisitions.

Most of the big guys got bigger, some of the independents went

mainstream, and nearly everybody else did the ’strategic alliance’

dance.

Major holding companies staked themselves out on the M&A frontlines.

Publicis Dialog, the US PR arm of French giant Publicis, was one of the

most active players, acquiring LobsenzStevens and San Francisco’s Purdom

PR, and closing in on the purchase of Chicago’s Selz/Seabolt

Communications at year’s end. Financial consulting operation Lighthouse

Holdings made ...