Interpublic Group of Companies

Interpublic Group of Companies

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Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: IPG
Industry	Advertising agency
Founded	1902
Headquarters	909 Third Avenue New York City, New York, USA
Key people	Michael I. Roth, Chairman, CEO, & President
Revenue	US$ 7,122.3 million (2013) US$ 6,956.2 million (2012)
Operating income	US$ 598.3 million (2013) US$ 678.3 million (2012)
Net income	US$ 259.2 million (2013) US$ 435.1 million (2012)
Total assets	US$ 12,905.0 million (2013) US$ 13,493.9 million (2012)
Total equity	US$ 2,250.8 million (2013) US$ 2,456.6 million (2012)
Number of employees	48,700
Website	www.interpublic.com

The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (IPG) is one of the "big four" global advertising holding companies (the others being Omnicom, WPP and Publicis). It is headquartered in New York City and is the parent company of advertising and marketing services agencies around the world.

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, including public relations, sports marketing, talent representation, and healthcare.

Michael Roth is the current IPG Chief Executive Officer.

History

The first marketing services management holding company, IPG was created in 1960 with McCann-Erickson and McCann-Marschalk as its two subsidiaries.

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. As of November 18, 2008 (taking into account stock splits), IPG's stock has sold at approximately the same price it was on November 18, 1987.

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. On Nov 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. 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. 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. 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.

Interpublic, working to simplify its structure after its overload of deals in the '90s and '00s, did not complete any acquisitions in 2005 and 2006. It disposed of 51 businesses in 2005 and 2006, primarily outside the U.S.; Interpublic said it exited 23 "loss-making international affiliates" in 2006. Interpublic in April 2007 announced it agreed to buy Reprise Media, a search engine marketing firm. In July of that same year, FCB-Ulka Advertising Private Limited, a subsidiary of IPG, was renamed DRAFTFCB+Ulka Advertising Pvt. Ltd.

Companies

• Deutsch Inc.
• FCB (new name of Draftfcb, a merger of Draft Worldwide and Foote, Cone & Belding Worldwide)
• Golin
• Gotham, Inc
• Hill Holliday
• HUGE
• Initiative
• Jack Morton Worldwide
• Lowe Profero
• The Martin Agency
• McCann Erickson
• Mithun
• Mullen Lowe Group
• Octagon Worldwide
• PMK•BNC
• R/GA
• Rogers & Cowan
• Tierney Communications
• TM Advertising
• Universal McCann
• Weber Shandwick

External links

• Home page