WPP to bring Young & Rubicam into portfolio
The anticipated buyout of Young & Rubicam by London-based WPP Group is not expected to have any immediate effects on the advertising market, industry figures said last week.
"This is a parent company buying another agency network," said Stephen Mangham, managing director at J. Walter Thompson-Parintex, a part of the WPP Group.
Last Tuesday, WPP and Young & Rubicam, one of the last independent advertising agencies on the market, agreed to a tentative buyout deal, reported to have cost about $4.7 billion.
Officials at Young & Rubicam in New York were unavailable to comment for this article. Young & Rubicam in Warsaw declined to comment.
While it was unclear at press time whether the deal would go through, a shareholders meeting to be held in New York last Friday was expected to announce the buyout would happen, said a source within Young & Rubicam, who asked not to be identified.
Within WPP, Y&R will join advertising agencies J. Walter Thompson-Parintex and Ogilvy & Mather. No fusion of the companies is planned.
"If it goes ahead, Y&R would not be merged with either JWT or O&M," Mangham said. "Y&R would simply be an addition to the WPP portfolio. "They will (still) be tough competitors."
The buyout contrasts with last October's Lowe Group and Ammirati Puris Lintas global merger, which resulted in Lowe Lintas & Partners Worldwide. As a consequence of that merger, Warsaw advertising agencies Ammirati Puris Lintas and Lowe GGK became Lowe Lintas GGK.
