The Federal United States Commerce (FTC) has announced that it has concluded its antimonopoly review of the proposal for the acquisition of Interpublic by Omnicom, which will take place for 13,500 million dollars. It does it by accepting an order of consent that prohibits the resulting company from assigning or retaining advertising investments to media companies based on political or ideological opinions.
The objective, as the agency has pointed out, is avoiding a possible Anticompetitive coordination by the company. It should be remembered that OMNICOM and IPG occupy the third and fourth place among the largest media purchase agencies in the United States. After the operation, they will mean the world’s largest media purchase agency.
“Coordination threatens to distort competition and public debate”
“Coordination between advertising agencies to suppress advertising investment in publications with unfavorable political or ideological points threatens to distort not only competition between agencies, but also the public debate“Daniel Guarnera, director of the FTC Competition Office, said in a statement.”Today’s action prevents illegal coordination aimed at specific political or ideological views, while preserving each advertiser’s ability to choose where their ads are placed”
In this regard, as the commission points out, the consent order resolves the concerns about the possible threat that the acquisition of IPG by OMNICOM raises with respect to Consolidate even more the US media purchase services. They point out that greater consolidation could erode competition by increasing the risk of coordination in the purchase of media between the remaining advertising agencies.
The FTC points out that the advertising industry in the United States has a coordination history in this field. “Advertising agencies have coordinated, even through sector associations, decisions not to announce on certain websites and applications”, He commented. Remember that such coordination can reduce advertising income from certain medium companiesS, forcing them to reduce the amount of content they can offer consumers and investment in their websites.
Therefore, the consent order includes a series of provisions that would eliminate OMNICOM’s ability to deny advertising investments to media editors attending their political or ideological point of viewexcept by express and individualized order of advertisers.
Both companies have celebrated the FTC decision. “We are pleased that our transaction with Interpublic has overcome this important regulatory obstacle”, Said John Wren, president and CEO of Omnicom, in a statement.”This is an important step towards the end of the proposed acquisition and the beginning of a new era in which we help our customers grow with an integral range of marketing and sales solutions, which incorporate creativity and technology”
They hope to obtain the remaining approvals and close the operation in the second half of this year
For its part, Philippe Krakowsky, CEO of Interpublic, ensures that the movement is a remarkable advance in the process. “Together with John and as part of his team, we will be in a privileged position to meet the changing needs of customers in a consumption and media panorama in constant transformation by technology and data”, He said.
However, as both companies explain, the consent order is now subject to a period of Public consultation 30 days and, subsequently, to the final approval of the FTC. In this sense, OMNICOM and IPG hope to obtain the remaining regulatory approvals and close the operation in the second semester This year.
American media point out that the measure of the FTC is aligned with the efforts of the Donald Trump administration to counteract what the president considers corporate bias Against the conservative voices, and follows the claims of Elon Musk, owner of X, that advertisers and control groups participated in a boycott coordinated to their platform.
