Omnicom to acquire Interpublic, forming ad giant with $26 bn annual revenue

Omnicom is buying Interpublic Group in a stock-for-stock deal that will create an advertising powerhouse with combined annual revenue of almost USD 26 billion.

Shareholders of The Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. will receive 0.344 Omnicom shares for each share of Interpublic common stock that they own. Omnicom shareholders will own 60.6 per cent of the combined company and Interpublic shareholders will own 39.4 per cent after the transaction is complete.

The combined company will keep the Omnicom name and trade under the OMC ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.

The deal is expected to have annual cost savings of USD 750 million.

The transaction is targeted to close during the second half of next year. It still needs the approval of Omnicom and Interpublic shareholders.

Shares of Interpublic jumped more than 15 per cent before the market open on Monday, while Omnicom's stock fell more than 2 per cent.  Global ad revenue set to cross $1 trn in ’24: GroupM  Global advertising revenue will increase 9.5 per cent in 2024 to surpass $1 trillion for the first time and grow 7.7 per cent next year, according to GroupM, the world’s largest media buying agency, owned by WPP.  The continued growth of advertising, driven by digital platforms, has defied expectations of a slowdown. It accelerated once again in 2024, GroupM said in its 2024 Global End-of-Year Forecast, and it will maintain a faster rate of growth through 2029 than it predicted a year ago.  Google, Meta, ByteDance, Amazon and Alibaba are expected to earn more than half of the revenue, with most coming from small- to medium- sized advertisers, GroupM said.  (With inputs from Reuters)