British advertising giant slashes 7,000 jobs
WPP, which owns agencies including Ogilvy and Grey, said its global headcount stood at 104,000 at the end of June – down from 111,000 at the same point in 2024.
The cuts follow a major restructuring of the ad giant's GroupM media division, which has since rebranded as WPP Media, while it has also wielded the axe on back office functions across the company.
WPP said staff numbers had fallen by 3.7pc since the start of the year, adding that cuts made in the second quarter alone were expected to save more than £150m from next year.
The cost-cutting comes as WPP struggles to stem a decline that has seen its share price fall by more than half since the beginning of the year. Shares were down as much as 5pc this morning.
The ad group said its operating profit almost halved in the first six months of the year to £221m, while revenues dropped 10pc to just over £5bn.
Mark Read, outgoing chief executive of WPP, acknowledged the company had faced a 'challenging first half given pressures on client spending and a slower new business environment'.
He added: 'I've never seen a more volatile environment in terms of client spend.'
WPP said it was halving its dividend to 7.5p per share for the first half of the year. It added that Cindy Rose, the senior Microsoft executive who will take over as chief executive next month, will carry out a review of the company's future strategy and spending plans.
Mr Read said: 'The priority is to drive sustainable growth supported by an appropriate level of financial flexibility while balancing returns to shareholders.'
During his tenure, Mr Read has merged a number of agencies and restructured the group in a bid to simplify its sprawling operations.
But the London-listed company has struggled to adapt to shifts in an advertising market that is now dominated by the likes of Google and Facebook.
WPP last year lost its crown as the world's largest advertising company by revenues to French rival Publicis. It has also suffered bruising client losses, including a $1.7bn (£1.3bn) Mars contract and Coca-Cola's media account in North America.
The appointment of Ms Rose, who has served on the WPP board since 2019, has been widely viewed as an effort by chairman Philip Jansen to help reposition the advertising group as a technology company as AI threatens the work of traditional agencies.
WPP said it expected revenues to fall by between 3pc and 5pc for the full year, in line with previous forecasts.
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