Media Buying Briefing: What’s going to happen with Dentsu outside of Japan?

As if there wasn’t enough consolidation in agency land — and the marketplace confusion that comes with it — this week is going to be another game-changer as Cindy Rose officially takes over running WPP and Dentsu formalizes its intent to get out of the global holding company race.

Rose’s opportunities and challenges are being addressed in another story we’re publishing today, so today the focus is on Dentsu, which for the last decade or more has operated as one of the Big Six holdcos, alongside WPP, Publicis, Havas, and Omnicom and IPG (the latter two soon to become one, barring unforeseen obstacles). 

In its second-quarter earnings statement, Dentsu’s CEO Hiroshi Igarashi signalled his openness to find a buyer for all the holdco’s assets outside of Japan, which is its own fiefdom and has always been kept separate from the rest of Dentsu. Hiring Morgan Stanley and Nomura Securities, it translates to putting the former holdco Aegis holdings up for sale. Igarashi-san told analysts on Dentsu’s latest earnings call that “[the] international business continues to face negative growth across all regions, resulting in a challenging overall performance.”  

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