After stoking the rumor mill for the past couple of months, Publicis finally closed on a deal to acquire Razorfish from Microsoft for a cool $530 million in cash and stock.

In a statement, the agency umbrella firm's chairman/CEO Maurice Levy said the deal is "another step forward in realizing our strategic vision of building a world leader in digital communications, a critically important space for our clients".

The deal, which the New York Times reports is being made for 1.4 to 1.5 times the annual revenue of Razorfish, calls for Publicis to buy display and search advertising on MSN.com and Bing.

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