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Cindy Rose, the CEO of WPP, in a black dress at an event in Spain

WPP taps Microsoft executive Rose to rebuild ad group

WPP has today named board member Cindy Rose as its new chief executive, tasking the senior Microsoft executive with leading its recovery a day after a major profit warning showed the scale of the challenge at the ad group.

Business • 10 Jul

Ad group WPP cuts outlook as clients rein in spending

Ad group WPP has today cut its annual profit guidance after clients cut spending in June, raising concerns about the group's ability to deal with the technological change driven by AI at a time of intensifying economic uncertainty.

Business • 09 Jul

Ipsos is preparing a binding offer to buy the TV ratings data business from market research group Kantar, according to Reuters

Ipsos confirms talks with Kantar Media over possible deal

French market research firm Ipsos said today it was in talks with Kantar Media over a potential acquisition of the London-based group, confirming a Reuters report from Friday.

Business • 02 Dec 24

Ad group WPP names former BT boss Jansen as new chair

WPP has today named former BT chief Philip Jansen as its new chair, succeeding Roberto Quarta at the world's largest advertising company.

Business • 30 Jul 24

Mark Read, the CEO of WPP, is looking to invest in AI at the ad firm

WPP bets on AI for growth, but no quick fix for 2024

Advertising group WPP is to invest in AI to drive its top line and improve margins in the medium term but 2024 will be another tough year, as it forecast that like-for-like growth would be flat to up by 1%.

Business • 30 Jan 24

Companies around the world are wrestling with higher borrowing costs and consumers tightening their own budgets amid a cost of living crisis

Two measures of corporate health starting to flash red

Two measures of corporate and economic health were flashing red today as shipping group Maersk reported a fall in global demand for sea containers and advertising giant WPP said clients in the US tech sector were slashing their marketing spend.

Business • 04 Aug 23

WPP reported a 2% rise in like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to £5.81 billion in the first half of 2023

WPP lowers full-year forecast as tech clients cut spend

WPP, the world's biggest advertising group, downgraded its full-year like-for-like growth forecast to 1.5-3% from 3-5% after lower spending from tech clients caused its revenue in North America to decline in the second quarter.

Business • 04 Aug 23

Shares in WPP, the world's largest advertising holding company, have risen more than 30% in the last six months

Ad group WPP forecasts robust growth for 2023

Ad group WPP has today forecast better-than-expected organic growth of 3% to 5% for 2023, helped by a client need to navigate an increasingly complex media market and an easing of restrictions in China.

Business • 23 Feb 23

WPP owns the Ogilvy, Grey and GroupM ad agencies

WPP says seeing strong client spending

WPP, the world's largest advertising group, increased its annual net sales outlook today after an upbeat second-quarter, boosted by strong client spending in the travel and technology industries.

Business • 05 Aug 22

WPP has taken an impairment charge of £2.7 billion

WPP declares interim dividend and beats dire forecasts

The world's biggest advertising company WPP said it had resumed its dividend as a sign of confidence after cost cuts and a switch to faster ad production helped it to beat dire forecasts for second-quarter trading.

Business • 27 Aug 20

WPP, the owner of the Ogilvy, Grey and Hill+Knowlton agencies, has already moved quickly to cut costs amid the Covid-19 crisis

WPP bracing for big impact from coronavirus

WPP said today the Covid-19 pandemic had forced its net sales down by 7.9% in March and the world's biggest advertising company expects worse to come, prompting it to cut yet more costs across the group.

Business • 29 Apr 20

WPP has launched a review of its costs to protect profitability from a fall in revenue

Ad giant WPP pulls dividend, buyback and outlook

WPP, the world's biggest advertising company, said today that it was pulling its dividend and share buyback.

Business • 31 Mar 20

WPP is in the middle of a three-year turnaround plan after it lost some major clients last year.

WPP shares slide again after fourth-quarter slowdown

WPP, the world's biggest advertising company, has reported a sharp slowdown in its final quarter of the year and said it did not expect any improvement in 2020, hammering its shares once again.

Business • 27 Feb 20

WPP was boosted by contract wins in the quarter including new deals with Mondelez and eBay

Client wins help WPP return to quarterly net sales grow

WPP has today reported a return to quarterly organic sales growth for the first time in over a year, showing the world's biggest advertising company had avoided the problems ensnaring French rival Publicis.

Business • 25 Oct 19

The $4 billion deal for Kantar is aimed at steering WPP, the world's biggest advertising company, back to growth

WPP in exclusive talks to sell Kantar stake to Bain

WPP is in exclusive talks to sell a majority stake in its data analytics unit Kantar to private equity firm Bain Capital.

Business • 02 Jul 19

WPP, the world's biggest advertising company, is looking to sell non-core assets and return to growth

WPP sells minority stake in Chime for £54.4m

WPP said it sold its minority stake in sports, entertainment and communications company Chime for £54.4m.

Business • 01 Jul 19

WPP is in the middle of an overhaul launched by new CEO Mark Read after several profit warnings in 2017 and 2018

WPP sticks to full-year outlook, Kantar sale on track

WPP said today that the sale of a majority stake in data analytics business Kantar is on track and that its full-year outlook was steady.

Business • 12 Jun 19

WPP said its underlying net sales would fall by as much as 2% in 2019 after dropping 0.4% in 2018

WPP gives some relief with better than feared results

WPP won some respite today, with results and forecasts that were not as bad as feared lifting its shares after a year of turmoil at the world's biggest advertising firm.

Business • 01 Mar 19

The owner of the JWT and Ogilvy agencies has lost 40% of its value in the last year and has been forced to cut its sales and profit forecasts

WPP to spend £300m by 2022 in bid to return to growth

British advertising group WPP has announced it plans to spend £300 million (€331 million) and cut 2,500 jobs over the next three years to return the world's biggest advertising group to growth by reducing the number of agencies it runs and hiring more talent in New York.

Business • 11 Dec 18

WPP said the new Wunderman Thompson company would be positioned to provide the whole range of advertising services

WPP merges famous JWT agency with digital arm Wunderman

WPP said it would merge its famous JWT agency with its digital outfit Wunderman in the most eye-catching effort yet by the world's biggest advertising group to simplify its business.

Business • 26 Nov 18

Shares in WPP fell to a six year low after today's results

WPP cuts outlook after falling behind rivals in US & UK

WPP lost a fifth of its market value today after a major downturn at its creative agencies in New York and London forced it to cut its sales and profit forecasts.

Business • 25 Oct 18

Ford delivers big blow to its long-time partner WPP

Ford picks BBDO as lead creative agency in blow to WPP

Ford has chosen Omnicom's BBDO as its lead creative advertising agency in a blow to its long-time partner WPP.

Business • 09 Oct 18

WPP's biggest pressures are being felt in the US

New WPP boss has work to do to strengthen US business

WPP's new boss Mark Read vowed to rebuild its creative agencies in the US and strengthen its position on Madison Avenue after reporting first-half results dragged down by the world's biggest advertising market.

Business • 04 Sep 18

Mark Read is tasked with steering the world's biggest advertising company through a period of wide scale industry change

WPP names insider Mark Read as new chief executive

WPP has named company veteran Mark Read as its new CEO to steer the world's biggest advertising company through a period of unprecedented change and following the acrimonious exit of its founder Martin Sorrell.

Business • 03 Sep 18

The acquisition of MediaMonks is Martin Sorrell's first deal since he left WPP in April

Sorrell beats WPP in race to win Dutch firm MediaMonks

Martin Sorrell has beaten WPP in the race to buy the highly coveted Dutch agency MediaMonks, in a move that is set to further strain tensions with the company he founded.

Business • 10 Jul 18