Microsoft is reportedly looking to sell its online advertising agency Razorfish just two years after acquiring it as part of a $6bn deal for parent company aQuantive Inc. A report in the Financial Times suggested that Microsoft has brought in the investment bank Morgan Stanley to seek out a potential buyer for the agency, which has been valued between $600 million and $700 million. It’s hardly a surprise move as there has been speculation over whether Razorfish really fits into Microsoft’s plans to cut back on unnecessary costs and concentrate purely on its core business during the recession.

When Microsoft bought aQuantive back in 2007 its main purpose was to create a stronger online advertisng network for the brand and be in a better position to compete with Google in online advertising. The benefits of owning Avenue A/Razorfish, as the agency was then called, were secondary to other aspects of what aQuantive could offer Microsoft as much as it would allow the company to significantly broaden its online ad network and place it in a far better position to compete with search engine giant Google. Acquiring an advertising agency, though, left Microsoft with a possible conflict of interest as Razorfish would be competing directly with the company’s own advertising efforts to market the brand and its products on the web.

Razorfish has a number of A-list clients including Nike, Mercedes-Benz USA, Levi-Strauss & Co and Audi, for whom it has created high profile online advertising campaigns with great success. The estimated price of the agency may seem like a mere drop in the ocean of Microsoft’s finances, but the decision to sell could give Microsoft the opportunity to concentrate on marketing its own products in its own way. According to the Financial Times the French company Publicis Groupe are the most likely potential buyer for Razorfish, following rumours that Publicis and Microsoft are planning to join forces for a TV ad campaign in the near future.

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