CRT/tanaka Acquires Livingston Communications

Livingston Communications announced late last week that it has been acquired by agency CRT/tanaka. After an (almost) merger with Social Media Group late last year that never quite panned out, CEO Geoff Livingston seems to be happy to have his agency in new hands.

Kami Huyse, a sometimes contractor for Livingston Communications published a Q&A with Livingston on the deal, and asked the “why now” question, to which he responded:

I don’t want to be the man, or the most popular guy on the Internet, and so having a CEO title doesn’t mean anything to me. What means something to me is becoming more available to my family, and doing great things that impact our society through clients, through openness and transparency, and through the embracing of public responsibility for our society’s issues, and the charitable efforts to resolve those problems.

Livingston also posted his own take on his blog here, which is certainly worth the read.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although we do know that CRT/Tanaka now has ownership of Livingston’s popular blog, The Buzz Bin. The company will also not become a subsidiary of CRT/tanaka but instead will merge under the existing corporate brand. CRT/tanaka clients include Sprint, Altria, and Charles Schwab & Co.

[image: Geoff Livingston, courtesy Beth Harte]

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