Lester: I'm originally from Dublin but now live in Edinburgh intek protein evolution orange creamsicle Advertising giants Omnicom and Publicis have announced what they call “merger of equals.”  If approved by federal regulators, the deal will create the world’s largest advertising firm, worth more than $30 billion. The move is a response to growing competition from Silicon Valley as Google and Facebook gobble up an ever larger share of the advertising buy. The merger may sharpen the companies’ focus on growing Asian and Latin American markets such as China and Brazil. The New York Times says the proposed merger “signals that advertising is now firmly in the business of Big Data: collecting and selling the personal information of millions of consumers.” The merged company had more than $22 billion in sales last year, which was less than half of Google’s $50 in revenue – most of it from online advertising.