Omnicom Group is preparing to reduce its global workforce by approximately 15,000 employees by the end of 2026, bringing its combined headcount down from 120,000 to around 105,000, as it integrates Interpublic Group and confronts the commercial fallout of losing PepsiCo’s global media business to Publicis Groupe after more than 25 years.

Omnicom CFO Phil Angelastro addressed both developments at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference on September 10, 2026, offering a candid assessment of what the company described as one of the most significant operational periods in its history.

“The Pepsi situation is an unfortunate one. It’s certainly a disappointment from our perspective; you cannot sugarcoat in,” Angelastro said. The company has since begun a detailed internal review of what went wrong. “We are doing a detailed kind of deconstruction of how it happened,” Angelastro said, adding that the exercise was still underway and that Omnicom intended to apply the lessons to its business going forward.

The loss of PepsiCo’s global media business, estimated at approximately $1.8 billion in core global media spending, came after Publicis was named PepsiCo’s lead global media partner, consolidating media duties across more than 200 markets without a formal pitch. Furthermore, layoffs are expected to primarily affect dedicated creative and account teams within Omnicom agencies including BBDO and Alma, which historically led global and regional campaigns for PepsiCo brands including Pepsi, Lay’s, and Doritos.

Omnicom continues to handle parts of PepsiCo’s business, including PR, creative and some sports marketing work, and Angelastro said the company does not expect the media loss to have a significant impact on its 2027 business outlook.

On the workforce reduction, Angelastro said merger-related reductions were largely focused on duplicated corporate costs and regional management, alongside opportunities for outsourcing and offshoring, and that headcount changes had not significantly impacted client-facing teams. Additionally, Omnicom is guiding to full-year organic growth of between 4.5  and 5 per cent, with second-quarter core operations revenue of $6 billion and organic growth of 6.1 per cent.

The workforce target of 105,000 would represent a reduction of 23,200 employees from the combined Omnicom-IPG headcount at the end of 2024, a significant structural transformation being executed at speed. Angelastro acknowledged the biggest challenge has been bringing together the Interpublic Group and Omnicom advertising portfolios, which has required eliminating brands and repositioning businesses globally.

Consequently, the PepsiCo loss has created an unexpected commercial opening. Angelastro indicated that the outcome gives Omnicom somewhat more flexibility in deciding which opportunities it pursues going forward, including Coca-Cola’s North American media business, which has entered the market following Publicis’ decision to relinquish the account after winning PepsiCo.

For the global advertising industry, Omnicom’s situation crystallises the twin pressures reshaping the holding company model: consolidation through mega-mergers and the accelerating loss of legacy client relationships to competitors whose AI and data capabilities proved more compelling than decades of incumbency.

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