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In contrast, Havas, now a more significant part of Vivendi since the sale of Universal Music, showed a 4.5% organic growth, trailing just behind Publicis at 5.3% but ahead of Omnicom’s 3.3% and likely WPP, which has yet to report.
IPG has been experiencing difficulties, particularly with its digital creative agencies, R/GA and Huge, undergoing retrenchments. The CEO, Philippe Krakowsky, has indicated that they are focused on closing the year strongly and will assess internal structural solutions to improve performance.
This often implies further redundancies and internal mergers. As a result, IPG shares dropped by 3.4%, with the market likely not expecting much better.
Havas’s CEO, Yannick Bolloré, expressed a more positive outlook, stating that given the economic circumstances, they are very satisfied with the results, noting growth in every region this quarter.
Europe saw a 1.5% increase, North America 3.0%, and Asia Pacific 2.0%. LATAM experienced a significant rise of 51.1%, partly due to media buying still being a full-service business in the region.
IPG may see some of its tech clients return, though it still has to prepare for the loss of the Amazon account, now the world’s largest advertiser. Retrenching can only go so far in a business that still prides itself on creativity. Perhaps the issue is that they aren’t as strong creatively as they once were.
Bolloré is in a better position, but he also has Vivendi (Canal+ and others) to manage. Vivendi is currently valued at around $8.8 billion, making it an attractive target for private equity or a competitor.