Brussels, 28/08/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has approved the proposed acquisition of Young & Rubicam by WPP, international groups specialised in marketing communication services. WWP, with a foothold in 92 countries, provides management and advisory services to its clientele in the fields of advertising, public relations, branding and identity as well as specialist communication services. At the head of a network of companies established in 73 countries, Young & Rubicam proposes services such as advertising, perception management and public relations, brand identity and design consultancy, database marketing and customer relationship management as well as healthcare communication services. In approving the operation, the Commission considers that the new entity will have to face competition from manage major agencies and will hold market shares largely below 30% on the marketing communication services market. In the national markets for media buying (space and time) the merged entity will have market shares well below 15%.