Xaxis and 24/7 Media merger sealed

WPP's Xaxis has finalised its merger with 24/7 Media to form the largest programmatic buying platform.The company will still be known as Xaxis and will be led by Brian Lesser as global CEO and David J. Moore as chairman.Mark Grether will remain as Xaxis global chief operating officer and Christina Van Tassell will become chief financial officer. Nicolle Pangis will become the company’s chief revenue officer and Paul Dolan will continue in his role as senior vice president, global business development. Caspar Schlickum has been elevated from his position of managing director, EMEA for Xaxis to CEO, EMEA. Xaxis regional managing directors Michel de Rijk (APAC), Brian Gleason (North America) and Lucas Mentasti (Latin America) will continue to run their respective regions. Sara Hafele, vice president of human resources for Xaxis, will lead all human resource related activities for the new company.The merged company will direct more than US$750 million of audience-targeted media buys across 32 markets in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.The merger was first announced in December last year. The merger also saw Xaxis closing its Media Innovation Unit, which was targeted at creative agencies.Sir Martin Sorrell (pictured), chief executive officer of WPP said earlier: “We were the first parent company to make a significant investment in advertising technology and today’s deal further extends our leadership in the high growth service sector.”