WPP rebuilds its structure while revenue and margins shrink

A massive reset with an expensive bridge year

WPP is in the middle of a deep reset. Management says the company will stop acting like a group of stand-alone agencies and move to a single company model. The goal is simple, which is to make it easier for one client to buy media, creative, data, production, and technology from the same WPP team.

The bull case is that this fixes a real problem. Big advertisers want fewer handoffs, faster content, better data, and lower cost. WPP says its simplification plan can deliver £500M of gross annual cost savings by 2028. New business is also showing early signs of working, with WPP ranking number one in JPMorgan's net new business rankings for the first half of 2026.

The bear case is that the reset is happening while revenue and margins are still under intense pressure. Management expects old client losses to create a drag of roughly 600 basis points in 2026. This drove a 4.7 percent drop in like-for-like net sales during the first half. Furthermore, the company expects second-half margins to drop by up to 200 basis points as it reinvests savings into growth drivers. The main test is whether major account wins turn into real revenue in 2027.

Selling one unified WPP to large advertisers

WPP makes money by helping companies and governments market their products and messages. It plans and buys ads, creates campaigns, builds customer experience systems, runs content studios, and manages public relations. Some work is long-term account work, while other work is project-based and can be cut quickly when clients get nervous.

The new model is built around WPP Open, an AI-driven marketing system. WPP Open brings together data, creative tools, media insights, and workflow software. The InfoSum integration adds privacy-safe data collaboration, which helps clients use their own customer data without moving it out of their control.

The weak spot is execution. WPP has to change incentives, reporting lines, technology use, and client behavior at the same time. To reduce silos, the company is shifting incentives to group performance rather than individual agency brands. If employees protect old silos, the cost savings may arrive but the revenue benefit may not.

Four pillars of the new WPP

Old reporting categories during a transition

WPP historically disclosed Global Integrated Agencies at 88 percent of revenue and Public Relations plus Specialist Agencies at 12 percent. The new four-unit structure is rolling out, with Enterprise Solutions now disclosed at roughly 13 percent of group net revenue.

What could break the reset

In one breath