Publicis and Omnicom unveiled plans for a $35bn merger yesterday that would reshape the global marketing industry and affect billions of dollars spent by the world’s biggest brands everywhere from television networks to Google and Facebook.
The Franco-US deal, signed at Publicis’s Paris headquarters overlooking the Arc de Triomphe, confounded analysts and rivals who warned of client conflicts, regulatory risks and culture clashes.
The new Publicis Omnicom Group would be the world’s largest marketing group by revenues and equity value. Under a Dutch holding company structure it would retain headquarters in Paris and New York, a primary listing in New York and a Euronext Paris listing.