• Adweek, Wednesday, January 9, 2008 11 AM

Omnicom Group's OMD has hung onto Visa's U.S. media business, although overseas work apparently remains in play between it and WPP Group's Mediaedge:cia, insiders say. Apart form the U.S., OMD handles Visa's account in the Asia-Pacific region, China and India, while MEC has European media and sponsorship. A third shop -- Publicis' Starcom - has Canada and most of Latin America.

But the U.S. accounts for more than two-thirds of the client's global business, which is estimated at $650 million. In the U.S., Visa spent $440 million in measured media in 2006 and $300 million in the first 10 months of last year, according to Nielsen.

When Visa announced the review last year, it said it was looking to consolidate global media planning and buying chores at a single shop or holding company. And now, says one insider, "it's down to the numbers."

Read the whole story at Adweek »