Gary Coby, the founder of the Republican digital marketing firm Direct Persuasion, has sold the company to a group of current executives who have rebranded the firm as Direct Persuasion Group, Daniel reports. The new firm will be led by a team of six digital marketing veterans: Daria Grastara, Emily Myers, Jack Puetz, Daniella Propati, John Donovan and Molly Georgia. Grastara is now CEO.

— “In an age where the digital-consultant class is consolidating through mergers and acquisitions, Gary Coby made an unprecedented move in turning over the company to the people who helped him build it,” Grastara said in a statement to PI. Coby, who was the digital advertising director for the 2016 Trump campaign, founded the firm in 2017. He has not announced his next step.

— Major clients have included the 2020 Trump campaign, Trump PAC Save America, the RNC, the NRSC and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). The firm told PI it has managed $450 million in digital ad spending since it started and has helped raise $1.3 billion online.

Read the Politico Influence Piece: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2024/04/19/union-station-redeveloper-lobbies-up-for-federal-cash-00153444