The world's second-largest advertising company, New York-based Omnicom, and the third largest, Paris-based Publicis, announced Sunday their plans to merge. Together, they become the world's largest ad-holding company with a value of $35 billion, taking the top spot from London's WPP.
For now, existing Omnicom CEO John Wren and Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Levy (pictured above) will serve as co-CEOs of the new Publicis Omnicom Group, which employs more than 130,000 people, and together generated $23 billion in revenue last year. Although Omnicom is somewhat bigger than Publicis, shareholders will each receive "approximately 50%" of the new company's equity, both companies said.
The merger takes place as global ad spending is forecast for a modest rise, up 2.8% to $517 billion this year, according to eMarketer. While print advertising continues to decline, TV spending remains solid, and digital-ad spending continues to grow in the double digits year-over-year.
By bringing together such well-recognized agencies as BBDO, Saatchi & Saatchi, DDB, Leo Burnett, TBWA, Razorfish and Goodby Silverstein, the company believes it will be able to deliver "the most comprehensive offering of analog and digital services," Levy said.
Reports that the two firms were in advanced talks to merge surfaced late Friday. The companies issued a joint press statement to announce the merger on Sunday. A press conference was held in Paris at 2 p.m. Another will be held in New York on Monday morning, the companies said.