PRWeek understands the holding company is subsequently reducing its global headcount by a proportion below three per cent ahead of the planned acquisition, with the 10 per cent employee costs figure believed to be a target rather than a mandate.
Omnicom set the 10% staff costs-reduction target in relation to “total compensation”, which includes all types of pay and benefits for employees.
Commenting on the target, a spokesperson for Omnicom told PRWeek: “This is part of the continuing alignment of our Practice Areas, like our newly formed OAG (Omnicom Advertising Group) and OP (Omnicom Production), to maximise operational efficiencies across the company, which will position us strongly for the future proposed acquisition of Interpublic.”
The spokesperson declined to provide details of where the staff cost savings are being made across the business.
In February, Campaign reported that Omnicom Group cut close to 3,000 roles from its global workforce during 2024, based on information from the company’s annual report.
Last week, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority launched an inquiry into the Omnicom-IPG deal to discover whether or not it could result in reduced competition in the UK advertising market. IPG’s PR agencies include The Weber Shandwick Collective and Golin.
In its latest results, Omnicom produced organic revenue growth of 3.4% in Q1, but net income decreased 9.7% year over year. The holding company’s core advertising, media and CRM services continued to anchor growth.
