The advertising industry faces a seismic shakeup after Omnicom Group agreed to acquire rival Interpublic Group. Omnicom and Interpublic, both headquartered in New York, are the world’s third-largest and fourth-largest ad firms, respectively.
According to Omnicom’s official announcement, the acquisition of Interpublic will be an all-stock deal valued at $13.25 billion. Interpublic stockholders will receive 0.344 in Omnicom shares for every share they own. The new company will keep Omnicom name and will be 60.6% owned by existing Omnicom shareholders and 39.4% by Interpublic stockholders.
The combined company would be the largest advertising firm in the world, jumping over Publicis and WPP, with more than $25 billion in revenue. Omnicom had $14.7 billion in revenue in 2023 compared to Interpublic’s $10.9 billion.
“Through this combination, we are poised to accelerate innovation and harness the significant opportunities created by new technologies in this era of exponential change,” Omnicom’s chief executive John Wren said in a statement.
The move comes at a time when traditional advertising companies are forced to change their approach and adapt to the digital advertising market. They are also facing competition from large tech companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon, who are increasingly taking away their clients thanks to a diverse selection of advertising tools and marketplaces for ads.