The new boss of WPP today launched a £500 million cost saving blitz and took an axe to the dividend in a massive shake up of the “underperforming” marketing services giant amid tumbling revenues.
CEO Cindy Rose who took over the top job from Mark Read in September said the plan was aimed at stabilising the London based business created by Sir Martin Sorrell in 1985 and engineering a “return to organic growth.”
The shake-up will also include a major structural reorganisation to streamline the sprawling global company into four operating units across four regions with the intention to be “a simpler, lower-cost, AI-enabled business”
The former Microsoft executive said: “Our recent underperformance has been driven by excessive organisational complexity, a lack of an integrated operating model and inconsistent strategic execution. While disappointing, I see huge potential as these issues are all within our power to fix and we’re already making great progress. “
There was little detail of how the proposed £500 million of savings will be made or how many of WPP’s near 100,000 employees might be affected. Thousands of jobs have already been cut over the past year but more lay-offs look inevitable.
However, the statement said the restructuring programme, known as Elevate28, will cost around £400 million, phased over two years.
Details of the new strategy came as WPP reported that revenues fell more than 8% to £13.55 billion last year, equivalent to a 3.6% like for like fall. Revenue from WPP’s top 25 clients fell 4.1%.
Operating profits were 22.6% lower at £1.32 billion but at the pre-tax level the company fell to a loss of £172 million compared with a profit of £629 million in 2025.
The final dividend is cut from 24.4p to just 7.5p making a 15p total for the year, down more than 60%. The dividend will be held at 15p in 2026.
Under the new simplified structure there will be four operating units - media, creative, production, and enterprise solutions across four regions - North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC.
Its ad agencies – Ogilvy, VML and AKQA – will be merged under the WPP Creative umbrella as part of the plan.
Rose said: “We have everything we need to succeed: exceptional talent, world-class capabilities, trusted data and technology solutions and groundbreaking partnerships, as well as the scale and reach to service the most complex multi-national, multi-brand clients in the world.
“The momentum we are seeing from the decisive action we’ve already taken gives me the confidence that we’re on the right path to creating a WPP that is fit for the future and built to win.”
This article was written by Jonathan Prynn from The Evening Standard and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.