Speak to any holding company leader and they’ll be the first to tell you they’re misunderstood. They feel maligned by all the independent agencies looking to poach their smaller clients who may feel overlooked or under appreciated. They feel the downward pressure on pricing from client-side procurement and finance folk, who see media spend as just a cost center, not a means to successful marketing.
Based on last week’s stock performance of arguably the most successful holding company out there — Publicis Groupe, which issued strong 2025 earnings as well as pretty bullish projections for 2026 — it seems Wall Street may not understand the value of a holding company anymore. And the truth is, if Publicis’ stock is going to get smacked around the way it did last week, then WPP, Omnicom and Dentsu should probably be even more worried, since their 2025 results are widely expected to fall short of the house of Sadoun.
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