A series of historic mega-mergers, strategic buyouts, and AI shakeups have cemented 2025 as a banner year for advertising, media, and marketing dealmaking. There’s little sign of slowing.
In the foreground is advertising holdco Omnicom’s $13.5 billion acquisition of former rival Interpublic Group (IPG), finalized in late November. It’s the largest deal in advertising history, with reverberations that have rocked the industry.
“Omnicom and IPG is the most important deal of the year in the industry,” said Michael Kassan, dealmaker extraordinaire to the world’s media titans. “The industrial logic there is clear. As we get to the next level of technology, the combination and the size that they’ve been able to achieve is going to give an advantage.”
