Singapore – Advertising giant Omnicom Group is reportedly in advanced negotiations to acquire fellow advertising giant Intepublic Group (IPG), as first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
According to people familiar with the matter, the deal could be announced as early as this week. Moreover, it is estimated that the combined entity would have net revenue of more than U$20b, according to 2023 figures for each company.
While details of the purported deal are yet to be announced, it is estimated that all-stock deal is likely to value Interpublic at between US$13b and US$14b, excluding debt.
With this, the merger would combine some of the world’s biggest agency names in the overall marketing and advertising scene. Omnicom handles BBDO Worldwide, DDB Worldwide, TBWA Group, DAS Group of Companies and Omnicom Media Group. Meanwhile, IPG handles FCB, IPG Mediabrands, McCann Worldgroup, MullenLowe Group and Marketing Specialists.
It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time Omnicom tried to acquire an advertising holding company. In 2013, Publicis and Omnicom tried to undergo a merger which would have been called Publicis Omnicom Group. The merger failed eventually in 2014 due to growing industry concerns as well as dwindling client wins at that time.
