WPP Chief Executive Mark Read to Step Down by End of 2025 After Seven-Year Restructuring
Seven-Year Leadership Era Ends as WPP Market Cap Hits $8.59 Billion
WPP Chief Executive Mark Read will step down from his post by the end of 2025, ending a seven-year tenure spent restructuring the world’s largest advertising group through major agency consolidations and an aggressive shift into artificial intelligence. Read, 58, officially announced his upcoming departure after leading the London-headquartered holding company since September 2018.
Becoming CEO wasn’t on Read’s strategic road map. Seven years on, speaking exclusively to Fortune on the eve of announcing his departure from the role, he reflects back on the experience as “a journey.” Replacing the group’s founder, Sir Martin Sorrell, who left following a series of allegations about his conduct in office, at a time when the industry was still coming to terms with the rise of adtech platforms from Meta and Alphabet, was a task for only the bravest of leaders. What followed was a series of consolidations, cost-cutting, and the fresh economic turmoil created by the Trump government’s tariffs.
To simplify operations and combat market share erosion, Read executed structural overhauls across WPP’s legacy network, merging historic agencies J. Walter Thompson and Wunderman to form Wunderman Thompson in 2018, and combining VML with Young & Rubicam to create VMLY&R. In late 2023, he further consolidated those operations into a single unified agency, VML, while restructuring GroupM’s media operations to streamline client service for global accounts including Unilever, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, and L’Oréal.
For Read, who is fueled by Nespresso coffee (he values consistency), it’s not all been smooth sailing. During his tenure, WPP’s share price has nearly halved, knocking the holding company market valuation to $8.59 billion as it navigates flatlining revenue growth among its myriad of agencies and a wave of staff anger over its controversial return-to-office policy: “We knew it wasn’t going to be a popular decision with everybody, but we think it’s the right thing for the long-term success of the company,” he says.
Amid financial headwinds, Read centered WPP’s business strategy on generative artificial intelligence, committing an annual investment of £250 million ($318 million) into proprietary technology and data infrastructure. That commitment led to the creation of WPP Open, an in-house AI platform used by 48,000 employees worldwide for media strategy, print and digital content production, and ideation. Detailed technology updates are available directly through the WPP corporate announcement portal.
Read onstage during his conversation with Elon Musk at Cannes Lions 2024. Richard Bord—Wireimage Via Getty Images
The technology deployment was intended to address claims from technology figures including OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman, who predicted that AI would instantly automate 95% of traditional agency functions. Read rejected that forecast, arguing that foundational models must be coupled with proprietary corporate applications, and maintaining that AI tools augment human creative strategy rather than replace human judgment.
WPP Chairman Philip Jansen, who assumed leadership of the board in early 2024, has initiated a formal executive search to identify Read’s successor. Read will remain in his position through late 2025 to oversee the leadership transition as WPP continues implementing its AI deployment and structural integration strategy.
