Havas โฃReportedly Considering Investment in Struggling WPP
LONDON – Havas is exploring a potential investment inโ WPP, the world’s largestโ advertising and marketing services company, according to a report by The Telegraph on โฃnovember 15, 2025. The move comes as WPP โคnavigates a periodโข of meaningful challenges, โคincluding declining revenue and a diminished stock price, while Havas experiences a โperiod of growth.
The potential deal would see Havas capitalize on WPP’s depressed valuation, which currently stands at $4.1 billion (ยฃ3.1 billion) -โ a substantial drop from its peak of ยฃ24 billion in 2017. This representsโค aโ significant prospect for Havas, which has โaโ market capitalization of $1.6 โbillion (โฌ1.45โฃ billion) and reported a record netโ revenue of $2.3 billion (โฌ2 billion) for the first nine months of 2025. The explorationโ of a deal underscoresโข the ongoing โฃconsolidation within the advertising โขindustry and the shifting dynamics betweenโ major players.
WPP has โคfaced โฃconsiderable headwindsโฃ recently.โ In the third quarter of 2025, the company reported an 8.4% revenue decline, which new CEO Cindy Rose deemed “unacceptable.” Rose, who took the helm earlier this year, has initiatedโค a turnaround plan centered โon artificial intelligence and hasโ appointed โฃElav Horwitz as its firstโข chief innovation officer to lead AI-focused initiatives. WPP has also engaged consulting firm McKinsey to conduct a strategic reviewโฃ of its operations.
Despite these efforts, investor confidence remains shaky, โฃwith eight hedge funds, including Millennium and Marshall Wace, currently holding โshortโค positionsโฃ on WPP’s stock. However, Rose and chairman Philip Jansenโฃ recently demonstrated faith in the company’s โฃfuture by each purchasing โ50,000 โคshares, investing over $184,000 (ยฃ140,000) apiece – โa moveโค widely interpreted as a signal of โconfidence toโ the market.
Havas’s interest in WPP echoes past attempts at acquiring stakes in other advertising giants. โIn 2011,Vincent Bollorรฉ’s havas made โฃan offer for Aegis Group,but the deal never materialized,and Aegis was โฃultimately sold โto Dentsu.
The potential investment in WPP would โposition havas to gain a foothold โขin a historically dominant advertising network, even as WPP โขworks to โขregain its footing in a rapidly evolving industry landscape. WPP employsโฃ 110,000 peopel globally,significantly more then Havas’s 23,000 staffers.
