REPORT: Omnicom And Publicis Are In Talks To Merge

Omnicom and Publicis, two of the largest ad agency holding companies, are in late stage talks for a friendly merger of equals.

Bloomberg has the story.

If consummated, the merger would achive two major milestones:

1. It would solve the retirement problem of Publicis CEO Maurice Levy, who has been wanting to leave his job for several years but has been persuaded to stay on by his board.

2. It would create a single ad company even larger than that of WPP, headed by CEO Martin Sorrell.

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Bloomberg reports:

The deal would be a merger of equals, said the person, who asked not to be named because the deliberations are private. Combined, Paris-based Publicis and New York-based Omnicom would be the largest advertising company in the world, topping current leader WPP (WPP) Plc. The talks could still collapse.