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| John Wren |
Omnicom CEO John Wren isn’t exactly spreading cheer this holiday season as he works to cull another 4,000 people from the payroll in the wake of the Interpublic takeover. Let's not call them "redundancies."
Wren wants to complete the blood-letting by Dec. 15 in order to position the now No. 1 advertising/PR combine for a fresh start in the upcoming year.
He aims to avoid the drip, drip, drip news reports of layoffs. But many affected workers would opt for that the drip, drip, drip approach as it may keep them employed through the holiday season.
Following completion of December’s employee carnage, Omnicom will have 105K employees. Omnicom and Interpublic had 128K staffers at the end of 2024.
Look for Omnicom—thanks to “efficiencies” triggered by AI—to have fewer workers at the end of 2026.
Wren plans to update investors on his integration and synergy expectations with the release of 2025 earnings in February.
The 73-year-old chief also should provide insights into his succession plan.
Notorious lawyer Roy Cohn introduced fledgling real estate developer Donald Trump to Manhattan’s high society, as well as the worlds of politics and media, during the mid-1970s.
The two met at a Manhattan disco, where Trump regaled Cohn with a story about the Justice Dept. suing the Trump Organization, dad Fred and Donald under the Fair Housing Act.
Investigators in 1973 found that out of 3,700 apartments at Trump Village in Coney Island seven were occupied by Blacks. Cohn urged Trump to fight the case. The rest is history.
Cohn soon became Trump’s personal lawyer and advance man, according to “The Gods of New York” by Jonathan Mahler. “This kid is going to own New York someday," Cohn told gossip columnist Cindy Adams.
It was Cohn who imparted his "rules of winning" to young Donald. They are attack, attack, attack; admit nothing, deny everything; and always claim victory, no matter the outcome.
The president still uses that playbook.
Once established in NYC, Trump no longer needed Cohn’s connections. As Cohn was dying from AIDS, Trump discarded him. The Donald was petrified of contracting AIDS.
After the lawyer died in 1986, his partner, Peter Fraser, opened a Bulgari box containing cuff links that Trump had given to Cohn as a gift years earlier. Fraser took the cufflinks to an appraiser who determined they were knockoffs.
Undoubtedly, Trump would have denied the cufflinks were fake.
What’s wrong with Pete Hegseth? The Defense Secretary used a phony image of the beloved by kids aged three to eight “Franklin the Turtle” character firing a missile at the alleged narco-terrorist boats. He is depicted on the cover of a book called "Franklin Targets Narco-Terrorists.”
There are more than 30 Franklin the Turtle books that have sold more than 65M copies in 30-plus languages. They deal with coming-of-age milestones for kids. They have titles such as "Franklin's Christmas Gift," "Franklin's New Friend," "Franklin Rides a Bike," and "Franklin Says I Love You."
Following Hegseth’s X posting, the series' publisher, Kids Can Press, issued a statement that said: “Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy and inclusivity. We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image, which directly contradicts these values.”
With all respect to Kids Can Press, anti-woke Pete doesn’t do “kindness, empathy and inclusivity.”
Hegseth though should know better. The guy is father and step dad to seven kids. What’s next? Will Pete have Charlie Brown and the the rest of the Peanuts gang storming the beaches of Venezuela?
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