IPG has talked to potential buyers for the holding company’s pioneering digital consulting, design and ad agency R/GA, according to several reports. 

Earlier today The Wall Street Journal reported that Tata Consulting Services appeared to be the frontrunner in talks to acquire the agency. 

An IPG spokesman declined to comment on the “speculation” that R/GA was for sale. 

The company was founded by brothers Richard and Robert Greenberg back in the 1970’s as a production company that utilized then leading-edge computer technology to help make films. 

IPG acquired the company in 2001 as part of its M&A deal for True North Communications. By then R/GA was a leader in digital marketing and IPG used it to help forge a path in that fast-growing sector.  

Richard Greenberg left the firm in the 1980s to pursue other interests. Bob Greenberg stepped down from the CEO post in 2018.  

The agency excelled in reinventing itself often to keep pace with the fast-changing digital marketing landscape. 

However, over the past couple years the firm has struggled to meet changing client needs, a similar problem for IPG’s other well-known and long-held digital agency, Huge.  

Both agencies were cited last year as part of the reason for IPG’s dwindling organic revenue growth, along with sharp client cutbacks in the technology sector.