Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words firm+media. 3 news.

CGEN's larger competitor Focus Media announced it was buying CGEN in a deal that could ultimately wind up being worth $350 million.

Is News Corp. becoming a publishing centric media conglomerate? That appears to be a pattern emerging following Saturday's announcement that the company would divest of eight U.S. television stations to private equity firm Oak Hill Partners for about $1.1 billion. The divestiture, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2008, follows News Corp.'s deal to acquire print and online publisher Dow Jones and Co. for $5 billion, and moves to liquidate other TV assets, including stakes in DirecTV and Gemstar TV Guide.

The Atlanta office of media buying and planning agency OMD is scaling down. The company is shutting down its newspaper unit in Atlanta after losing AT&T Inc. (formerly Cingular Wireless) as a client in October when the company consolidated its estimated $2.3 billion account at WPP Group's Mediaedge:cia. All employees that worked on AT&T's newspaper business will be out of a job Dec. 21, according to sources close to the situation. The OMD Atlanta office will remain open, housing about 30 employees who will service the remaining accounts, including the Georgia Lottery, Randstad, Icelandair and Bayer Advanced. Dale Travis will remain general manager of the Atlanta office. Bryan Jackson and Steve Rubinacci, formerly with OMD Atlanta, have moved over to Mediaedge:cia Atlanta to continue their work in print.