WPPNYSE: WPP

Talk of a bid for WPP PLC (LSE:WPP) PR business makes sense, according to analysts at Citi, and might persuade management given the value it could generate. Bloomberg and FT both reported that KKR had made a bid for control of FGS Global, the PR arm.

Mark Read, CEO at WPP, discusses Elon's Musk's comments to advertisers at Cannes Lions and explains how the company are using AI in their latest innovations.

WPP Open for B2B is powered by IBM's watsonx AI and data platform to solve complex B2B marketing challenges  IBM  is the first user of the platform to accelerate its AI-driven marketing and communications transformation WPP and IBM will collaborate with LinkedIn to better understand buying groups  CANNES, France , June 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- WPP (NYSE: WPP) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the launch of a new business-to-business (B2B) solution powered by IBM's AI and data platform watsonx designed to reinvent how B2B marketers identify and engage clients and prospects across the buying journey.  WPP Open for B2B will help marketers solve complex B2B marketing challenges, accurately identify and engage buying groups, and improve clients' return on investment.

WPP (WPP) is technically in oversold territory now, so the heavy selling pressure might have exhausted. This along with strong agreement among Wall Street analysts in raising earnings estimates could lead to a trend reversal for the stock.

NEW YORK & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WPP (NYSE: WPP) today announces that it has integrated Anthropic's state-of-the-art Claude artificial intelligence (AI) model family into its intelligent marketing operating system WPP Open, using Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service from Amazon Web Services (AWS). The integration of Claude, including Opus, Sonnet and Haiku, brings powerful AI performance, intelligence and speed to enhance the capabilities of WPP's 114,000-strong marketing talent across it.

WPP PLC (LSE:WPP) saw a drop in shares following a larger-than-anticipated decrease in first-quarter revenue, driven by decreased ad spending by tech companies in the US and a significant decline in China. Revenue excluding pass-through costs was £2.69 billion in the first quarter, marking a 1.6% like-for-like decline compared to the previous year, slightly below the City analyst consensus of 1.5%.

The British advertising group WPP experienced a 1.6% decline in organic growth in the first quarter, falling behind its main competitors due to the loss of a healthcare client and decreased spending by technology companies.

WPP continues to reorganize its business with the launch of VML after merging VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson. The company aims to improve its business performance with targets for revenue growth, operating profit margin, and operating cash flow conversion. WPP's dividend remains below pre-pandemic levels, but the attractive yield and potential for dividend growth make the shares appealing.

WPP's full-year core profit slightly missed expectations and the advertising group guided for like-for-like revenue growth in 2024 of 0% to 1%, adding that it was confident of delivering accelerated and increasingly profitable growth over the medium term.