Type Public Predecessor McCann-Erickson, Inc. Chief information officer John Halper | Industry Advertising agency CEO Michael I. Roth | |
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Traded as NYSE: IPG
S&P 500 Component Founded 1930; 87 years ago (1930) (as McCann Erickson)
1961 (1961) (as Interpublic Group) Key people Michael I. Roth, Chairman, CEO, & President Stock price IPG (NYSE) US$ 24.42 +0.16 (+0.66%)14 Mar, 12:38 PM GMT-4 - Disclaimer Headquarters New York City, New York, United States Subsidiaries McCann Erickson, Weber Shandwick Profiles | ||
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (IPG) is a publicly traded advertising company.
Contents
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.It is now one of the "Big Four" agency companies, alongside WPP, Publicis and Omnicom. Michael Roth is the current CEO.
History
IPG was founded as McCann-Erickson in September, 1930. In January, 1961, it was renamed Interpublic Group and created the first marketing services management holding company with McCann-Erickson as a subsidiary.
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 November 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 1990s and 2000s, 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
As of July 2016