WPP plans US expansion having ‘looked at’ New York listing

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WPP is “looking to switch its primary inventory to New York,” according to chief executive Mark Reid, who is benefiting from a “resurgence” in the US as Donald Trump re-enters the White House. Follow up on opportunities to take

Reid told the Financial Times that this was the year for the London-listed ad network to begin its push for AI, revenue growth and – despite his concerns about the health of the UK stock market – its share price.

“We have to drive topline growth to drive the share price – I’m very focused on that,” Reid said in an interview at his office on London’s Southbank, as he outlined plans for up to $100 million in additional AI investment to drive both. Creativity and productivity across his agency.

“As a leadership team, we have a plan. We know what we have to do. And 2025 is the year of execution, and especially execution in AI.

Reid said that WPP had looked at moving its primary inventory to the US, adding: “It’s something we keep an eye on.” While there are no plans to do so at the moment, he noted that “other CEOs who have moved their listings to the US have had a positive experience”.

Markets are closely watching Reid’s next moves, with talks between corporate advisers and industry rivals about increasing pressure on the chief executive following the arrival of the former BT boss. Philip Jansen As chair three weeks ago.

WPP shares have fallen by a tenth in the past month, and are now about a third lower than when Reid took over in 2018. The share price of its French rival Publicis has almost doubled over the same period.

Meanwhile, WPP’s two biggest US rivals — Omnicom and IPG — unveiled last month Consolidation plan to create a single, New York-based advertising heavyweight.

Reed said larger deals along the lines of Omnicom-IPG were “certainly something we would consider,” but he would not have pursued such a tie-up. “We would be better off investing in what we have than going through a major consolidation,” he said.

He also sees the merger as an opportunity, suggesting that WPP’s own restructuring period points to obstacles ahead for its US rivals. “I’ve had the battle scars of consolidating the business over the last six years,” says Reed, pointing to the challenge of bringing together companies spread across multiple advertising and PR agencies.

“There will be three big players in our industry. None of us are vastly different in size and scale from the others,” he said. And while scale tends to be positive for media buying and planning activities, he adds, it was “not entirely clear to me that scale and creativity are two words that always go together. “.

Reid has faced criticism from some staff over a policy announced last week to bring people back to the office four days A week But he said: “Ogilvy in New York is one of our best performing agencies. It’s packed — busy and vibrant — you can feel the energy. And I’m sure those things are connected.”

Reed said the US, where it has about 38 percent of its business, would be WPP’s main area of ​​growth, with M&A plans focused on data and technology services to give it a bigger presence in the world’s largest advertising market.

“With Trump’s presidency, there has been a resurgence of business confidence in the United States,” he noted, adding that “the sense of American ambition and growth” also translates into how well their companies have fared in the stock market.

The UK government needed to “get to the bottom” of how to provide the capital inflows needed for the FTSE 100, he said, adding that the valuation discount for London-listed companies was now “the biggest in history”.

“This is driving M&A and reducing the number of listed companies,” he added.

This posed a challenge, he said, for the UK as a whole. “We need to get closer: WPP as a company in the US and the UK as a country in the US.”

WPP counts some of the biggest tech companies in the US as clients — including winning Amazon’s media business outside America last year — but has been hit by a slowdown in ad spending in the sector. Still, he said that “in the long run, those companies are going to change the world”.

He also noted how Trump has brought about a cultural shift in corporate America in a short period of time: “The most striking example of the change in the past six weeks has been met. They see how the wind blows.

Advertisers were also returning to X, the social media site owned by Trump ally Elon Musk. “Content Moderation Changes [at] Meta — more closely aligned with X — probably helps, too,” he said.

Looking ahead, he said he was optimistic that revenues would improve this year, with plans to spend £50mn to £100mn more than in 2024 on an AI platform being rolled out across the group’s 100,000 staff.

“We’ve got a lot of new business opportunities,” Reed said. “We’re very confident in where we are with our investment in AI, and I think we’re going to see a better year in 2025 than we did in 2024.”