March, 2021
Business Insider highlights Ciesco CEO, Christ Sahota
Private equity firms are pouring money into advertising after avoiding the sector for decades.
In 2019, private equity invested an estimated $57 billion in marketing and tech companies, and the percentage of marketing, tech, and digital media deals backed by PE has more than doubled over the past five years, to 42%.
Ad agencies used to spend around half of their revenue on talent, said Chris Sahota, CEO of M&A advisory firm Ciesco and former IPG exec. But a lot of that money has shifted to technology, especially at independent, digitally focused agencies that build their own tech to compete with larger networks.