Operating income Founded 1986 | Website aquent.com Type of business Private | |
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Culture of innovation with john chuang ceo of aquent
Aquent is a staffing company specialized in placing temporary employees in marketing and creative industries. According to Staffing Industry Analysts, it is among the "largest marketing/creative staffing firms in the United States".
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Aquent work inspired
History
Harvard College students John Chuang, Mia Wenjen and Steve Kapner in 1986 founded a typesetting business from the Harvard dorm. The business grew and went into temporary staffing related to Mac training, changing its name to MacTemps. The name would change again to Aquent, which means "not a follower" in Latin.
The company has grown substantially and entered into new business areas through acquisitions.
The company saw a drop in revenue in 2001 in the aftermath of the dot-com bubble with revenue dropping in 2001 compared to 2000. To counter the drop off in business, Aquent purchased Renaissance Worldwide Inc., a IT consultancy and staffing firm, for $106 million. Aquent at that time had been known for offering staffing of print and web designers. The deal allowed Aquent to also offer back end support staffers, which was considered by the company to complement well as a package solution. The acquisition of Renaissance also included a municipal and state government IT consulting subsidiary, which as initially planned was sold months later in 2002 to EOne Global for $45 million.
In 2003 the company made a hostile takeover offer for Computer Horizons Corporation, a computer network services company with a staffing business segment. Aquent through its investment banker Robert W. Baird & Co. had initially approached Computer Horizon's management on April 3, 2013 with an invitation to have dinner, which was rejected by Bill Murphy, the President and CEO of Computer Horizons. Aquent then proceeded to launch a cash tender offer on April 14, 2013 that valued Computer Horizons at $154 million. This proposal was opposed by management and in May the offer was rejected.
Aquent acquired Corporate Project Resources Inc. (CPRi), a staffing agency for marketing jobs, in 2005 for $25 million and renamed it Aquent Marketing Staffing while keeping its operations in Chicago.