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Omnicom and Interpublic are in talks for a more than $30 billion merger that would create the world’s largest advertising agency and reshape the global marketing industry.
The combined U.S. group would likely overtake France’s Publicis and Britain’s WPP, which have competed for the top spot as the industry’s largest holding company based on net revenue.
The all-stock deal is structured as an acquisition of Interpublic by larger rival Omnicom. As of Friday’s close, Interpublic was valued at $10.9 billion, while Omnicom was valued at $20.2 billion. The combined group’s net revenues will exceed $20 billion.
Interpublic and Omnicom own a wide range of global advertising, marketing and PR agencies, with McCann, FCB and Media Brands on one side and BBDO and TBWA on the other, but both agencies have a US focus. I am putting
One person familiar with the situation said negotiations began in the summer. He added that the deal could be announced as early as Monday. This is effectively an acquisition of Interpublic by Omnicom, “even though it is portrayed as a merger, and IPG has been looking for a buyer for some time,” he said.
Another person close to the situation confirmed the meeting Sunday night. The proposed agreement was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Omnicom and Interpublic could not be reached for comment.
The partnership is expected to receive significant regulatory scrutiny, given the overlap between media and creative agencies, one of the people said.
This comes as traditional advertising agencies face increasing pressure, with most of the industry’s funding now tied to advertising tools and large companies like Google and Amazon, which provide a marketplace to buy and sell digital ads. It’s being siphoned off by technology companies.
Publicis made early investments in data-driven services, including acquiring digital group Sapient in 2015 and Epsilon in 2019, to strengthen its technology platform and has outperformed rivals over the past year. .
The industry is also facing significant disruption from the introduction of AI tools. AI tools offer businesses the opportunity to create cheaper, faster, and more targeted advertising than ever before.
As it becomes easier for clients to do their own marketing, all agencies will need to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in developing AI tools to address the existential threats posed by new technologies.
The partnership is the largest proposed in the industry since the 2013 merger between Publicis and Omnicom, which would also have created the world’s largest advertising group. However, after months of negotiations, the deal was terminated.
