Overview

• Mark Read will leave the top job by year-end after seven years as WPP’s chief executive.
• Philip Jansen, appointed chairman earlier this year, will oversee the search for Read’s successor.
• WPP’s share price has fallen about 50 percent since Read took the helm under pressure from AI competition and economic headwinds.
• The company has committed £400 million in 2025 to expand WPP Open, its four-year-old AI-driven operating system.
• WPP lost its position as the world’s largest ad agency to Publicis in 2024 and faces a $13.3 billion Interpublic-Omnicom merger by rivals.