Microsoft has agreed to sell digital creative agency Razorfish to French advertising agency Publicis Groupe in a deal worth $530 million (£318 million).

The terms of the agreement will also see Publicis and the software giant enter into a five-year partnership that will enable Publicis to purchase a pre-determined minimum amount of internet display and search advertising from Microsoft on "favourable terms".

Razorfish will continue to be the preferred digital creative agency for Microsoft and Maurice Levy, chairman and chief executive of Publicis, explained that the deal will help the company improve its operations online.

"The acquisition of Razorfish is another step forward in realising our strategic vision of building a world leader in digital communications," he remarked.

Chief executive officer at Microsoft Steve Ballmer said that the company is "grateful" for the work done by Razorfish since it was acquired in 2007 and stated that Microsoft is looking forward to continuing to work with the agency.

Razorfish - which will continue to operate under its own name following the sale - designed the logo for Microsoft's Bing search engine and has also carried out creative work for a number of multinational companies.