Despite dominating news headlines throughout December, and probably continuing to do so well into 2025, it is still possible for the Omnicom-IPG merger to fall through, in a repetition of history, when Omnicom failed to merge with Publicis Groupe in 2013.
Campaign's editor-in-chief, Gideon Spanier, sat down for a globally exclusive interview with John Wren, CEO of Omnicom, and Philippe Krakowsky, chief executive of IPG, after it announced the all-stock deal on 9 December to create the world's biggest agency group. Since then, the share price of Omnicom has declined 15%.
In this episode, Spanier is joined by editor Maisie McCabe and media editor Beau Jackson to ask the $31bn (£26bn) question: will the merger really happen?
Hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley, the team discusses the regulatory obstacles that the holding companies need to overcome, the shrink in share prices and the potential for divergent performances from Omnicom and IPG in 2025. Is the merger an attempt to "fight scale with scale", Spanier asks, to compete with the power of tech companies.
The team touches on where the deal leaves R/GA and Huge after being held for sale last year, and discusses any signs that adland might see a repeat of the attempted Publicis merger.
Further reading:
- The $31bn Omnicom-IPG deal has industrial logic but also many caveats
- Omnicom-IPG merger: how the holdcos stack up in the UK
- Interpublic sells digital experiences agency Huge
- 'The industry doesn’t need another behemoth’: Stagwell CEO on Omnicom-IPG
- Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun says Omnicom-IPG deal is 'real opportunity'
- Omnicom and IPG 'huddling together as cold winds blow': Martin Sorrell
- Everything we know so far about the Omnicom-IPG mega merger
Coming up in the Campaign calendar:
- Media Week Live, 29 January