‘We are no longer a holding company’: WPP unveils A$949m global restructure as profits plunge
WPP CEO Cindy Rose: "We're already making great progress"
WPP has launched a major global restructure, consolidating operations and leadership roles in a bid to save £500 million (A$949 million) over the next three years.
As part of the overhaul, the company formally announced it will merge the back offices of agencies, including Ogilvy, VML and AKQA under the moniker WPP Creative, as well as embarking on a significant “de-duplication” drive across its operations.
The announcement comes as WPP’s underlying organic growth fell 5.4% in 2025, weighed down by client losses and marketing spending cuts.
Overall revenue fell 3.6% to £13.5 billion, while operating profit plummeted 71% to £382 million, down from £1.33 billion in 2024.
Speaking on an earnings call with investors, WPP CEO Cindy Rose said the changes mean the company will “no longer be a holding company … no longer a shopping basket of hundreds of stand-alone businesses.”
Under its “Elevate28” strategy, WPP will be streamlined into four operating units — Media, Creative, Production, and Enterprise Solutions — across four regions: North America, Latin America, EMEA and APAC.
In Australia and New Zealand, WPP’s creative agencies have seen several leadership changes, with former Dentsu CEO Kirsty Muddle set to take over Ogilvy ANZ in March, while VML recently appointed former TBWA ANZ boss Paul Bradbury as its new CEO. It is unclear what the change of direction announced by WPP globally will mean for the APAC structure.
WPP also hinted in the call it may sell off or “rationalise” non-core assets, focusing investment instead on “high-velocity production”, enterprise solutions and other high-growth areas.
Another key part of the savings plan will come from cutting WPP’s real estate footprint and creating shared service centres.
This, alongside automation and the use of AI across corporate functions, will allow more scaled productivity savings, the company said.
“Our recent underperformance has been driven by excessive organisational complexity, a lack of an integrated operating model and inconsistent strategic execution,” Rose said in the earnings announcement.
“While disappointing, I see huge potential as these issues are all within our power to fix, and we’re already making great progress.”
However, during the investor call, Rose stressed that the consolidation will not result in a merger of agency brands.
“We’re not consolidating agency brands,” she said. “What we’re doing with WPP Creative is doubling down on our agency brands. They’ll continue to trade as such and engage with clients as such.”
Despite this, WPP Media global CEO Brian Lesser said a more integrated approach would be adopted for client work and pitches.
“We’re not going into these pitches as Mindshare or Wavemaker or one of our other agencies — we’re going to these pitches as WPP Media,” he said. Increasingly, we’re going into these pitches as WPP. We get a lot of help from our colleagues at VML, Ogilvy, AKQA, and from WPP Production.”
WPP Media CEO Brian Lesser: “Increasingly, we’re going into pitches as WPP”
During the earnings call, Rose and Lesser were also questioned about WPP’s use of principal media trading, which has recently drawn scrutiny in the US following a lawsuit filed by Richard Foster.
Responding to an analyst question, Lesser acknowledged that the practice is common in several markets, but emphasised that the products are built with clients, who are increasingly asking for more.
“Building compelling performance-oriented products has always been a part of our business,” he said.
“Those are part and parcel of the services that we provide our clients. And in other cases, it requires us to invest, invest in technology, invest in our trading partners, invest in sources of data and then pull all of that together on behalf of our clients to drive performance.”
Meanwhile, on a positive note, WPP Media highlighted the Australian market, along with India, as key contributors in offsetting an overall 5.9% decline in organic growth across the segment.
