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| Mark Read |
WPP suffered a 10.2 percent drop in 1H revenues to $6.7B and a 47.8 percent plunge in operating profit to $297M.
Exiting CEO Mark Read, who headed WPP for seven years, said he’s “never seen a more volatile environment from a client perspective.”
The board slashed the interim dividend in half to 7.5p, and announced a review of strategy and capital allocation policy to be led by incoming CEO Cindy Rose, who takes the helm on Sept. 1.
The Microsoft alum is charged with driving sustainable growth supported by an appropriate level of financial flexibility while balancing returns to shareholders, according to Read.
He said WPP made “significant progress on the repositioning of WPP Media, simplifying its organizational model to increase effectiveness and reduce costs.”
WPP reduced its headcount by 7,000 people during the past year, which includes 1,400 staffers at FGS Global, which was sold to KKR. It now has 104K employees.
On the PR front, Burson reported a 7.8 percent revenue drop in Q2 compared to a 1.5 percent gain in 2024, due to the challenging environment for client discretionary spending.
WPP expects full-year 2025 revenues will slide in the three-to-five percent range.
Publicis Groupe posted five percent Q3 net organic revenue growth, marking “another very strong quarter” for the French-based firm, according to CEO Arthur Sadoun.
WPP chief Cindy Rose is cutting up to 1,000 jobs by the end of the year, adding to the 11K jobs lost since the start of 2025, according to a report in the Financial Times.
WPP CEO Cindy Rose declares her stabilization plan is "firmly on track" as the company reports a 4.7 percent dip in 1H revenues.
FTI Consulting reported a 2.6 percent drop in Q2 strategic communications revenues to $100M, a shortfall largely due to a $7.4M decline in pass-through revenues.
Omnicom CEO John Wren reported a 7.2 percent rise in Q2 “core operations” to $6B and a 6.1 percent spurt on an organic basis.
