WPP has agreed to acquire AKQA one of the last big independent digital agencies. WPP said the deal was subject to regulatory approval. The shop, founded in 2001 provides an array of services including social media, mobile, interactive experiences, gaming and content creation. Clients include Delta, Diageo, EDF, GAP, Google, Microsoft Xbox, Nike, Target, Unilever and Virgin Money, among others.

In its aggressive effort to woo advertisers and agencies, Facebook last year launched Facebook Studio, site showcasing the best examples of creative campaigns on the site. Following its rocky IPO last month and increased skepticism about its ad model, the company needs to the support of the ad community more than ever. To that end, Facebook has launched the Creative Council, a new initiative bringing together top executives from more than a dozen agencies “to serve as a sounding board for both Facebook product ideas and key agency needs,” according to the social network. Announced at the Cannes Lions …

The Surface: PC is like a tablet, but with many PC features.

Getting a push from his recent "Celebrity Apprentice" appearance, Arsenio Hall will re-start up another late night syndication TV talk show. In the early 90s, Hall had a late night syndication talk show produced and distributed by Paramount Domestic Television. CBS Television Distribution will distribute the new show. Paramount is now part of CBS Corp. The new show will air on big market Tribune Broadcasting stations -- WPIX-TV New York, KTLA-TV Los Angeles, and WGN-TV in Chicago, as well as 14 other TV outlets. Tribune will also be a production partner in the series. Overall TV markets covering 52% of …

Just eight months after taking over as president of J. C. Penney, Michael Francis is out. The Plano, Tex.-based retailer, which has been struggling with slumping sales and negative reactions to its extensive repositioning efforts, says its CEO Ron Johnson "will assume direct responsibility and oversight of the company's marketing and merchandising functions." Until joining Penney last October, Francis had been CMO at Target Corp.

Yahoo has named former AdMeld CEO and Internet veteran Michael Barrett as chief revenue officer, responsible for the company’s advertising revenue and operations worldwide. Since Google’s acquisition of ad optimization platform AdMeld last year, Barrett has led integration efforts between the two companies. Prior to joining Admeld in 2008, Barrett served as chief revenue officer at Fox Interactive Media, where he oversaw revenue for all properties including MySpace and FoxSports.com and worked closely with Yahoo CEO Ross Levinsohn when he led the News Corp. unit. Barrett has also been president of sales and partnerships at AOL Media Networks, and held …

Marketing to TV academy members for Emmy consideration will also benefit some cable subscribers in New York and Los Angeles. Starting this weekend, Friday, June 15 through Sunday, June 17, Showtime will launch a free preview on Time Warner Cable and DirecTV giving all subscribers in New York and Los Angeles free access to the channel. New York and Los Angeles are where the majority Academy of Television Arts and Sciences members reside. The "Best in SHO" Emmy preview weekend will also Academy members and consumers a chance to view and sample shows like "Homeland", "Shameless," "House of Lies," "Californication", …

Facebook CTO Brett Taylor is leaving the company after three years to start his own company. Taylor’s departure, first reported in AllThingsD, comes barely a month after the social networking giant went public and amid continuing investor concern about the company’s future revenue growth. Taylor’s oversight of two key areas at Facebook—its developer platform and mobile—will be assumed by two other Facebook executives--Mike Vernal and Cory Ondreijka—according to the report. Vernal joined the company from Facebook in 2008, while Ondreijka came through the 2010 acquisition of startup Walletin. Taylor, who founded FriendFeed, acquired by Facebook in 2009, didn’t disclose …

Facebook has begun allowing app developers to find out what devices their users have in order to optimize apps and games accordingly. Using the Graph API (application programming interface), developers can access a list of device a user has connected to Facebook. “Using this information, you can improve the mobile app or game experience for users in many ways, such as prompting a web user with an iPhone to install your native app or offering a user to invite their friends with devices supported by your mobile app,” stated a post on Facebook’s Developer blog. Separately, the company also …

Mobile startup accelerator Tandem Capital has raised a $32 million fund from investors including Verifone CEO Doug Bergeron, Google founding board member Ram Shriram, Playdom founder Rick Thompson and other executives and organizations. Silicon Valley-based Tandem aims to nurture mobile startups by providing $200,000 in funding along with free workspace and daily interaction with a team of experts in business development, product design, marketing, and other disciplines. Among Tandem portfolio companies is PlayHaven, a monetization platform for mobile games integrated with 1,500 titles, and BitRhymes, a cross-platform casino game with over 2 million active users. Another Tandem-backed company, ZumoDrive …