Advertising agency Young & Rubicam, New York, has held recent discussions to acquire direct marketing concern Harte-Hanks, San Antonio, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition yesterday. Y&R, which itself is reported to be an acquisition target of British advertising conglomerate WPP Group PLC, would pay about $2 billion for Harte-Hanks, a diversified provider of direct marketing services, according to the article.
Harte-Hanks CFO Jacques Kerrest said the company had no comment on the report.
Separately, Harte-Hanks yesterday reported first-quarter profits of $17.75 million, or 25 cents per share, an increase of more than 15 percent over year-ago first-quarter profits of $15.33 million, or 21 cents per share. Revenues increased about 20 percent, to $226.06 million, vs. $188.13 million a year ago.
