Reuters reported this morning that the merger between Omnicom and Publicis is off the table.
Originally announced in July, the Omnicom-Publicis deal would have resulted in the largest advertising agency in the world, with Publicis CEO Maurice Levy claiming at the time, “This is a new company for a new world.”
Apparently neither of the agency CEOs were ready for a new world.
In the Reuters report, Levy said he disagreed with Omnicom’s desire to appoint their own staff to lead executive roles. “Omnicom wanted their people to fill the CEO, CFO and general counsel jobs,” Levy told Reuters, “I thought that went too far. I was not ready to cede on this point.”
Omnicom CEO John Wren blamed the deal not moving forward on the differing cultures between the two agencies.
“There are strong corporate cultures in both companies that delayed us for reaching an agreement,” said Wren, “There was no clear finish line in sight, and uncertainty is never a good thing when you are in the personal service business.”
According to Reuters, neither agency will be required to pay a termination fee and the legal costs of the failed merger will be split between the two companies.
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