美女免费一级视频在线观看

NEW YORK: Omnicom Group cut close to 3,000 roles from its global workforce during 2024, ahead of its planned takeover of Interpublic Group, which is expected to lead to further job losses.

Campaign estimates Omnicom’s headcount dropped from approximately 77,900 at the start of January 2024, based on previous disclosures, to 74,900 at December 31, 2024, according to its newly-published annual report. (Campaign is PRWeek’s sister business media outlet at Haymarket Media). 

The company had 75,900 staff on December 31, 2023, and added about 2,000 practitioners when it completed the acquisition of Flywheel Digital from Ascential on January 2, 2024.

That meant Omnicom went on to cut close to 3,000 roles during the remainder of 2024 in the run-up to its planned takeover of IPG, which was announced on December 9. 

Omnicom did not comment on Campaign’s estimates.

Companies typically report staff numbers to investors at the financial year-end. On that basis, Omnicom’s total headcount fell by 1,000, or 1.3%, to 74,900 at the end of 2024, from 75,900 at the end of 2023.

The role reductions came even though the U.S. agency group increased revenues by 5.2% last year.

It was the first year that Omnicom reduced its total headcount since 2020 during the depths of the pandemic.

Regional swings

A breakdown of Omnicom’s staff numbers by geography showed there were some regional swings.

The agency group slashed headcount in its home market of the U.S. by 2,800 to 21,900 at the end of 2024, from 24,700 a year earlier.

Total staff across the Americas was stable at 31,200 as the number of employees in the rest of the region, excluding the U.S., expanded by 2,800 to 9,300 in the period.

EMEA headcount dropped by 600 to 26,800, from 27,400 a year earlier, and APAC was down 400 at 16,900 versus 17,300 in the prior year.

Omnicom incurred $57.8 million of “repositioning costs,” which were “primarily related to severance,” in 2024.

Total salary and related costs rose 3.2% to $7.44 billion, chiefly because of the Flywheel acquisition, but they decreased as a percentage of revenue, “primarily due to the reduction in headcount arising from our ongoing repositioning actions and changes in our global employee mix.”

Omnicom, like other agency groups, has been reducing costs by “offshoring” some jobs to cheaper locations. The company expanded what it called its “nearshore” operations in Latin America and set up four “centers of excellence” in India during 2024 as it looked to drive efficiency for clients.

$750m in annual “synergies”

Omnicom plans to find $750 million (about £600 million) in annual “synergies”, following its planned acquisition of IPG, and it gave new details on its Q4 earnings call on February 4.

Upwards of $330 million of savings will come directly from cutting staff. The two companies jointly employ 130,000 people, including 55,100 at IPG, based on its Q3 2024 results.

The enlarged group expects to save $130 million a year from redundant roles, functions and back-office operations by bringing together unified practice area leadership teams at the global, regional and country level – for example, at Omnicom Advertising Group, a recently created umbrella unit for all of the creative agencies.

Omnicom and IPG also expect to make $200 million in annual “compensation savings” at the holding company’s corporate level, by combining and streamlining senior leadership and operations across finance, accounting, IT, legal, real estate and HR.

Other savings include $110 million in selling and general administration costs, $150 million from unified procurement, $70 million from integrating IT and $65 million from streamlining real estate.

In an interview with Campaign at the time of the IPG takeover announcement, John Wren, the chief executive of Omnicom, declined to say how many roles might be lost. He said his priority was keeping people in revenue-generating and client-facing jobs across Omnicom and IPG.

Omnicom has warned retaining talent is one of the principal risks as it looks to complete the M&A deal by the end of 2025. Wren and Philippe Krakowsky, the chief executive of IPG, visited London in January to offer a message of reassurance in meetings with senior staff and pitch consultants.

Industry experts have said potential job cuts at Omnicom and Interpublic could be a boon for independent and small and midsize agencies in the PR space that are seeking talent. 

Omnicom Public Relations Group includes FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, Porter Novelli and MMC, while IPG’s PR firms include Weber Shandwick and Golin. 

Omnicom is not the only one of the big four agency groups that has been cutting jobs. 

IPG, which will report annual results on February 12, reduced its headcount by 2,300 to 55,100 during the first three quarters of 2024, although it also sold some assets, including Hill Holiday and Deutsch New York.

WPP, which will report annual results in the coming weeks, said in August its headcount fell by 3,000 to 111,000 in the first half of last year, partly through “attrition” by not filling vacant roles when people departed.

By contrast, Publicis Groupe, the top performer of the big four groups in recent years, added close to 5,000 roles, partly through acquisitions, taking its headcount to 108,000 by the end of 2024.

Arthur Sadoun, the chief executive of Publicis Groupe, predicted in an interview with Campaign at its annual results earlier this month that Omnicom will cut “thousands” of jobs as a result of the IPG takeover.

This article first appeared on Campaign UK.