 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Nasdaq: STGW | |
| Industry | Advertising, marketing, communications, media |
| Founded | 2015; 10 years ago (2015) |
| Founder | Mark Penn |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
Key people | |
| Website | www |
Stagwell Inc., formerlyThe Stagwell Group, is a global marketing and communications group founded in 2015 byMark Penn.[1] In 2020, The Stagwell Group announced plans to merge with its affiliateMDC Partners.[2] The merger was completed in August 2021.[3][4][5]
Known partners include72 and Sunny, Anomaly, Doner, Forsman & Bodenfors, Code and Theory, YML, Instrument, Locaria, Assembly, ForwardPMX, Gale, Allison+Partners, SKDK(SKDKnickerbocker), HUNTER,Harris Poll, and NRG.[5]
Mark Penn founded The Stagwell Group in 2015.[6][7][8][5] Penn founded The Stagwell Group with a $250 million investment from former Microsoft CEOSteve Ballmer.[7][8][5]
In 2017, Stagwell acquired Forward3D, Scout and also acquired Observatory fromCAA. The company also acquired pilot movie testing assets from Nielsen and combined them with NRG, and acquired mobile research assets from Nielsen to form HarrisX.[9][10] In 2018, Stagwell acquired Ink and laterReputationDefender. Stagwell also secured a $260 million investment fromAlpInvest Partners.[11] In 2020, Stagwell acquired Seward Square Strategies as part of SKDK,[12] as well as Headliner Labs as part of ForwardPMK.[13] In August 2021, following the merger of The Stagwell Group with MDC Partners, Stagwell formed Stagwell Media Network, a group of multichannel agencies.[14][5] In September 2021, ReputationDefender was sold toNorton.[citation needed] In July 2022, Stagwell acquired Apollo Program, an AI-powered SaaS platform.[15][16] In 2023, Stagwell announced a partnership with political news and polling siteRealClearPolitics for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.[17]
In 2019, Stagwell invested $100 million into MDC Partners. Stagwell CEO Mark Penn was then appointed CEO of MDC Partners.[18] On December 21, 2020, the firms announced their intent to merge. On August 23, 2021, Stagwell announced the completion of the merger and the creation of Stagwell Inc. (NASDAQ: STGW) as the merged entity with Mark Penn as chairman and CEO of the combined company. The merged company will be headquartered in New York, with significant offices in Washington, DC.[19]