Havas Eyes WPP as Vultures Circle—But Is Anyone Actually Dealing?
Share buyback by CEO and chairman suggests no formal talks underway, despite speculation linking French rival and private equity firms to troubled UK holding company
The advertising industry’s consolidation wave has thrust WPP back into M&A speculation, with France’s Havas reportedly exploring options for the struggling UK holding company. But scratch beneath the surface, and the story looks more like opportunistic tyre-kicking than serious dealmaking.
According to The Times of London, Havas has been examining WPP, with potential scenarios ranging from acquiring the WPP Media division to building a significant stake and seeking board representation. Private equity firms Apollo and KKR have also been mentioned as potential suitors.
The problem? Nobody seems to be actually buying anything.
Apollo, which reportedly looked at WPP last year, told PRWeek bluntly: “We are not in discussion or considering a bid for WPP.” KKR—which acquired corporate comms giant FGS Global from WPP last year—declined to comment. Havas offered the standard “we do not comment on market rumours.”
The share buyback tells the real story
Perhaps most tellingly, WPP CEO Cindy Rose and chairman Philip Jansen purchased a combined 100,000 shares last Friday for roughly £287,000. Under UK corporate governance rules, such purchases are prohibited if a company is in formal merger or takeover discussions.
The move was widely interpreted as a confidence signal to the market. It’s also a fairly clear signal that whatever conversations may be happening, they’re not formal talks.
This matters because it reframes the narrative. WPP isn’t necessarily on the brink of a transformative deal. It’s simply cheap enough that everyone from rivals to private equity firms is taking a look—but nobody’s convinced enough to write a cheque.
Why WPP looks attractive (on paper)
The interest isn’t surprising. WPP’s market capitalisation has collapsed to $4.1 billion, down from £24 billion at its 2017 peak. The share price has fallen roughly 65% since early 2025, hitting 27-year lows in late October after the company missed forecasts again.
Third-quarter revenue declined 8.4%, which Rose called “unacceptable.” Eight hedge funds, including Millennium and Marshall Wace, are currently shorting the stock.
For Havas, which spun off from Vivendi last December and reported record net revenue of $2.3 billion for the first nine months of 2025, WPP represents both opportunity and threat. With Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG nearing completion, the industry is consolidating into mega-agencies with unprecedented scale.
A stake in WPP—or even just its media division—could improve Havas’s competitive position. The company has been positioning itself aggressively, launching a joint venture with Horizon in September to manage $20 billion in bookings.
The Bolloré playbook (again)
There’s precedent for this approach. In the mid-2000s, Vincent Bolloré—father of current Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré—purchased a stake in Aegis Group with merger intentions. That vision never materialised, and Aegis eventually sold to Dentsu.
Since the Vivendi spin-off, Yannick Bolloré has signalled openness to “significant” M&A deals. Whether WPP qualifies remains unclear.
McKinsey to the rescue?
WPP has enlisted management consultancy McKinsey for a strategic review, whilst Rose has launched a turnaround plan centring on artificial intelligence. The company appointed Elav Horwitz as its first chief innovation officer in this AI-focused push.
Whether any of this restores investor confidence—or simply makes WPP more attractive to buyers—remains to be seen.
What’s clear is that WPP is vulnerable in ways it hasn’t been for decades. The question isn’t whether people are looking. It’s whether anyone will actually make a move, or if WPP will simply continue its slow decline whilst rivals circle overhead.
For now, the share buyback suggests Rose and Jansen are betting they can turn things around themselves. The market, judging by those short positions, isn’t convinced.
This article comes at the perfect time, and honestly, it’s like you’ve read between the lines of all this market drama just as expertly as I do with a really good book, you totaly get it.
The timing of that share buyback really does signal everyting here. If serious talks were hapening, Rose and Jansen couldn't touch those shares under UK rules. It feels like WPP is caught in this awkward middle ground where they're attracting attention but not commitment. The 65% drop since early 2025 makes it look like a bargain, but maybe that's the problem - if KKR walked away after aquiring FGS Global, they clearly saw something that gave them pause.