FTC Seeks Information From Top Advertising Agencies as Part of Ad-Boycott Probe
The Federal Trade Commission is asking some of the world's largest ad companies for information as part of an investigation into whether advertising and advocacy groups violated antitrust laws by coordinating boycotts of certain sites, including Elon Musk's X.
The FTC on Monday sent requests for information to agencies including Omnicom Group OMC 0.17%increase; green up pointing triangle, WPP WPP -2.76%decrease; red down pointing triangle, Dentsu 4324 0.10%increase; green up pointing triangle, Havas, Interpublic Group IPG 0.09%increase; green up pointing triangle, Publicis Groupe PUB -0.04%decrease; red down pointing triangle and Horizon Media, a spokesman for the FTC confirmed.

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Los Angeles Times
4 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Musk touts driverless Tesla test ahead of Austin robotaxi launch
Tesla Inc. executives including Elon Musk promoted a video of one of its vehicles driving in Austin with nobody behind the wheel, hinting that it's close to launching its robotaxi service in the Texas capital. A black Model Y emblazoned with 'robotaxi' on its front door turned off South Congress Avenue in a touristy area of the city in the video, which was posted to Musk's social media platform X. Musk shared the video on his X account, as did Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla's Autopilot teams and recently took over responsibility for the company's Optimus humanoid robot program. Although neither Musk nor Tesla have specified a precise launch date, Bloomberg has reported that Tesla aims to begin operating its robotaxi network on June 12. The company has been testing self-driving Model Y SUVs that will be used in the operation's initial phase. Model Ys with manufacturer plates and a person behind the wheel have been spotted driving around parts of Austin, including South Congress. The vehicles are expected to use an 'unsupervised' version of Tesla's suite of driver-assist systems known as Full Self-Driving. In a separate X post, Musk said the vehicle in the video was running on a new version of software. Musk has staked the future of his electric-vehicle company to robotics, autonomy and artificial intelligence. He's said the robotaxi launch in Austin will start small, with as few as ten to twenty vehicles, before growing over time. It's unclear who will be the first users of the robotaxi service, what app will be used or how much rides will cost. Carlson writes for Bloomberg.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
WPP CEO Mark Read to retire at challenging juncture for agency giant
This story was originally published on Marketing Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Marketing Dive newsletter. WPP CEO Mark Read will retire at the end of December after seven years at the helm of the world's largest ad-holding group, according to an announcement posted by the company's board Monday. Read will work with the board to find a successor, the executive said on his LinkedIn. He called out WPP's ongoing work around data and artificial intelligence-driven transformation while acknowledging that the current business environment is 'challenging.' Whoever takes over the CEO spot has a tall order to fill. WPP has contended with a number of painful client losses and spending pullbacks and is in the midst of significantly overhauling some of its most important assets, including WPP Media, formerly GroupM. Read took on the mantle as CEO of WPP seven years ago after the contentious departure of Martin Sorrell, an executive who, over the course of decades, shaped what was once a wire basket company into a sprawling advertising empire. As the successor to an industry titan, Read's tenure has not been short on incident, with challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, periods of global unrest, inflation and the advent of generative AI. Announcing his departure, the agency chief touted his efforts to make AI a central piece of WPP, including through the broader implementation of the Open operating system this year. 'The progress our teams have made has been superb and when I 'demo' WPP Open to our clients they are always amazed by what it can do,' wrote Read, who spent more than 30 years at WPP in total, in his LinkedIn note. Still, WPP's performance has lagged compared to peers, dragged down by a raft of large client losses and sharper spending pullbacks in markets like China. Revenue less pass-through costs declined 2.7% on a like-for-like basis to 2.48 billion pounds, or about $3.2 billion, in Q1 2025. Discussing the quarterly results earlier this spring, Read cautioned that tariffs could further impact brands' appetites for advertising. In an attempt to turn its fortunes around, WPP has enacted some dramatic moves of late. In April, it acquired data collaboration platform InfoSum to further evolve its capabilities beyond legacy identity solutions built on technology like cookies. Earlier this month, it formally rebranded GroupM, its media investment arm, to WPP Media. The change is expected to impact 40% to 45% of the unit's workforce. Paramount, a longtime client, suddenly cut ties with the group last week amid plans for a merger with Skydance Media, Deadline reported, another blow to a business that is trying to turn a new leaf. Some of Read's policies have also proven controversial with employees, such as a four day return-to-office plan that had a haphazard rollout earlier this year. For some analysts, Read stepping down is an expected outcome after years of transformation work failed to return the group to consistent levels of growth. The announcement comes a week out from Cannes Lions, an international gathering that effectively acts as the Oscars for advertising. 'The news is unsurprising because of WPP's lackluster business and stock performance in recent years alongside the installation of a new Board Chairman at the beginning of this year,' said Brian Wieser of Madison and Wall in a note around the news. 'Presumably the delay of the transition of Board Chair role by a year was responsible for prolonging this outcome.' WPP maintains what Wieser described as a 'deep bench' of talent that could succeed Read, and may draw on outside candidates, but still needs to iron out a more concrete strategic direction. Recommended Reading GroupM becomes WPP Media as holding company prepares for future Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data


CNET
an hour ago
- CNET
I Used ChatGPT to Plan a Career Pivot, and Found It Empowering
The future of work, and the very concept of a career, is on shaky ground. While technologists and business leaders prophesize over the most likely economic impact of AI, workers are left wondering where their place and purpose will be in the decade ahead. With a tough job market, the cost of living, the rise of AI and global uncertainty, it's a good time to contemplate your career. You can do this with the help of an AI chatbot, which can talk through your options and come up with a plan. If you can't handle another week of Sunday scaries, you're experiencing a career calling in another direction or simply want a backup plan if robots take over, use ChatGPT as a brainstorming buddy. You can also chat through how to negotiate a raise, write a cover letter and resume, find a new job and use it as a career coach. Career change, here I come This exercise isn't for a role shift or moving around within the same industry. Rather, it's to help guide your thinking if you're considering a complete career change. Quick caveat: Don't make any important life decisions using only AI. Sit with the chatbot's suggestions, talk to the people in your life, do your own research and ponder on what a new profession might look like. While I'm happy with my job as a freelance writer (yes, even in the age of AI), I'll use myself as an example of how to walk through the process. According to the World Economic Forum, there will be 92 million displaced jobs, but 170 million new jobs in the next decade. Meaning the next era will be more about career changes than job losses. I downloaded the 290-page document so I could upload it into ChatGPT to interpret and use in its career shift suggestions. You want to pick lucrative career paths that are on the rise, not in decline. Log into ChatGPT so it has all the context about you from any previous times you've used it for questions or advice. You might need to feed it more information about your interests, goals and life vision, though. If you tried the "dream day in the life" trend, this is good information to use. You likely have more of an idea about what you want to do with your life now than you did when you were 18. Use your life experiences and learnings to guide ChatGPT. If you have an idea of the area you'd like to move into next, tell ChatGPT. If not, start here: "I'm currently a [role] at [company] and have been working in [industry] for [number of years]. I'm interested in [X], [Y], [Z]. What are some different career paths and industries that could be suitable? Use everything you know about me, as well as this attached report to identify lucrative career options." For me, ChatGPT provided some writer-adjacent career options, like a communications director, policy writer, workshop facilitator or marketing manager. These were still within the communications realm, so I had to specify in my second prompt that I was looking for a complete career change. But I didn't love what it suggested: ChatGPT/Screenshot by CNET I told ChatGPT that I'd be willing to upskill and get another degree. It came up with a behavioral scientist, human-centered AI ethicist, a role in urban design and policy, and a mental health innovator. All of these roles were still very "techy" and not really what I'd be into. I gave that feedback to ChatGPT. While the non-tech, high-demand job suggestions were a little closer, nothing excited me. ChatGPT kept trying to push me into sustainability and education. Two noble paths, but neither light me up. New career suggestions This time, I told ChatGPT that I have a growing interest in women's health and fertility, after going through IVF. I asked: What are some lucrative, fast-growing career paths in this sector? ChatGPT/Screenshot by CNET ChatGPT laid out a few possible paths, with training options and earning potential. For example, a fertility coach, patient advocate, policy advocate, head of content for a fertility brand, editorial director for a women's health publication or founder for a women's health venture. ChatGPT/Screenshot by CNET Now we're talking! Next, I said I'd slowly transition into this field over the next five years and would be happy to do more study, then asked for more recommendations and a timeline to work toward. Here's the suggested roadmap: ChatGPT/Screenshot by CNET ChatGPT/Screenshot by CNET I asked ChatGPT to tweak the timeline, based on a few changes, and it gave me another updated five-year transition plan. While the plan wasn't perfect, it was 80% there. ChatGPT gave me ideas I hadn't thought of and provided some pretty convincing stats, like what the fastest-growing job categories will be, predicted employment rates, wage potential and median salary. This was an empowering exercise that everyone should do. It's always good to have a plan B in place. Remember you'll probably have to hold the AI chatbot's hand before it will reach the right path for you -- and then it'll be able to give you ideas and information on what you need to do to get the rest of the way there. Just make sure you also talk to some real people before committing to anything.