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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| NYSE: IPG S&P 500 Component | |
| Industry | Advertising agency |
| Predecessor | McCann-Erickson, Inc. |
| Founded | 1930 (as McCann Erickson) 1961 (as Interpublic Group) |
| Headquarters | 909 Third Avenue New York City 10022 United States |
Key people | Michael I. Roth, Chairman, CEO, & President[1] |
| Revenue | |
| Total assets | |
| Total equity | |
Number of employees | 49,700 [3] (As of April 2016) |
| Website | www |
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (IPG) is an American publicly traded advertising company.
The company consists of three major networks: McCann Worldgroup; Lowe and Partners; and FCB. Its media agencies are bundled under the IPG Mediabrands entity. It also owns a number of specialty agencies in the areas of public relations, sports marketing, talent representation, and healthcare.[4] It is now one of the "Big Four" agency companies, alongside WPP, Publicis and Omnicom.[5] Michael Roth is the current CEO.[1]
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IPG was founded as McCann-Erickson in September 1930. In January 1961, it was renamed Interpublic Group and created the first marketing services management holding company with McCann-Erickson as a subsidiary.[6]
In 2001, Interpublic acquired True North Communications, the holding company for Foote Cone & Belding.[7]
In 2002, IPG suffered a precipitous drop in its stock price and reputation in an accounting scandal. In that year, Interpublic was alleged in violation of the Securities Exchange Act over misrepresentation and artificially inflating its earnings.[8]
On August 13, 2002, the Interpublic Group of Companies announced to restate financial statements, due to uncertain economic environment and imbalances in certain accounts containing inter-Company activity and related balance sheet items that warranted further scrutiny.[relevant? ][9] On November 13, the final amount of the restatement was reported to be $181.3 million, which reduced previously reported pre-tax income, substantially all of which is related to periods 2001 and prior reporting periods.[relevant? ][10] On March 6, 2003, IPG restated the third quarter of 2002, after identifying $135.8 million of pre-tax charges relating to asset impairments and other operating expenses at Octagon Motor Sports.[relevant? ][11]
On September 15, 2005, IPG announced to restate earnings for fiscal 2000 through 2004, due to problems in accounting for revenue, acquisitions and lease expenses. The company also fired some employees in its investigation of accounting errors and potential misconduct.[relevant? ][12] On March 22, 2006, IPG's financial review process resulted in restatement of 2005 interim periods and the recording of immaterial out-of-period adjustments to fourth quarter 2005 financial results.[relevant? ][13]
Interpublic disposed of 51 businesses in 2005 and 2006, primarily outside the U.S.; Interpublic said it exited 23 "loss-making international affiliates" in 2006.[14] Interpublic in April 2007 announced it agreed to buy Reprise Media, a search engine marketing firm.[15] In July of that same year, FCB-Ulka Advertising Private Limited, a subsidiary of IPG, was renamed DRAFTFCB+Ulka Advertising Pvt. Ltd.[16]
In July 2018, Interpublic announced they were buying database marketing company Acxiom's Marketing Solutions business for $USD2.3 billion.[17]
As of July 2016[18]