IPG cuts 800 employees, APAC revenue dips

Interpublic Group has laid off 800 employees in the September quarter, bringing total job cuts this year to about 3,200. 

The affected employees included executive, regional and account management as well as administrative, creative and media production personnel. 

The company has also vacated approximately 135,000 square feet of office space in Q3 as part of its ongoing cost-optimisation efforts. 

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In a note to investors, IPG said that the changes are designed to "transform our business, enhance our offerings and drive significant structural expense savings". The restructuring is also expected to cost between US$450 million and US$475 million, with completion by end of the calendar year, IPG revealed.

In addition, IPG revealed that it had a total revenue of US$2.494 billion for the September quarter, down from US$2.629 billion in the same quarter last year. 

Closer to home in Asia-Pacific, revenue fell more than 11% to US$169 million, down from US$190.8 million in the same quarter last year.

"While net revenue headwinds from earlier activity persisted in the third quarter, our organic performance underlying the impact of our largest losses was positive and improved from earlier in the year," said IPG. 

“We believe that we are positioned to continue that upward trend in the fourth quarter and into 2026, due to our pick-up in net new business in 2025, to new offerings including our principal trading platform, and to the significant changes we’ve made in the business through our program of strategic transformation. Our client offerings will be further enhanced by the very strong strategic fit with the capabilities and geographies at Omnicom," added IPG. 

The Omnicom-IPG merger is one of the largest in the advertising industry's history. It is expected to be completed by the end of November 2025, pending final approval from the European Union. 

Regulatory clearance has already been granted by the US, UK and Mexico authorities. 

The merger has also intensified rumours of DDB network's retirement. DDB is one of Omnicom's three main creative agency networks alongside BBDO and TBWA. 

Following the merger, Omnicom will also inherit overlapping IPG networks, including McCann Worldgroup, FCB and MullenLowe. 

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