Washington, D.C. — In response to news that leading advertising agency Omnicom Group has proposed acquiring rival Interpublic Group (IPG) at a $13.25 billion valuation—a deal that would combine two of the “Big Four” ad companies into the world’s largest ad agency—the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“With this brazenly anticompetitve merger, corporate executives are making clear they expect the Trump Administration to abandon the popular fight against consolidation in digital technology and consumer markets,” said Lee Hepner, Sr. Legal Counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project. “This mega-merger between holding companies that already oversee thousands of advertising agencies and enormous troves of consumer data will further deprive consumers of meaningful choice. It will result in sweeping layoffs, while depriving smaller businesses of access to consumer insights. Tighter integration of advertiser demand and ad inventory supply will aggravate conflicts of interest, meaning lower returns for advertisers, higher consumer prices, and diminished payments to publishers and content creators. In the waning days of the Biden Administration, antitrust enforcers should use their authority to demand more information and conduct transparent analyses of the all-too-predictable harms flowing from this monopolistic proposal.”

The $13 billion mega-merger would combine the third-largest and fourth-largest bulk buyers of ad inventory, creating far and away the largest advertising holding corporation in the world. Omnicom already controls over 1,500 agencies and 77,000 employees, while IPG similarly oversees hundreds of agencies and 57,000 employees. The combined entity would employ over 130,000 workers, many of whom would face immediate layoffs as the companies promise $750 million in short-term “efficiencies.” The combined entity would count as clients brands such as Geico, Taco Bell, Apple, McDonalds, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, and countless other businesses, elevating the likelihood of lost competition between brands who delegate competitive decisions to the combined entity. CNBC’s Jim Cramer called the deal “so monopolistic and anti-competitive I can’t even believe it.”

The proposed merger also builds on years-long efforts by Omnicom and Interpublic to expand control over consumer data insights. In 2018, Interpublic acquired Axciom for $2.3 billion to control access to insights into first-party consumer data. In 2023, Omnicom acquired Flywheel Digital for $835 million to accelerate digital advertising purchases for its large stable of brand advertisers. Omnicom has also entered into partnerships Big Tech giants including Meta, Amazon, and Google to gain priority access to consumer behavior across social media and retail platforms. The combination of large amounts of consumer data with algorithmic tools for the processing of that data creates barriers to entry for smaller advertisers and their clients, building a moat around the proposed new corporation. Furthermore, as learned in the Justice Department’s case against Google’s alleged monopoly in various markets pertaining to open web display advertising, the integration of ad demand with the purchase of ad inventory will give the newly-merged conglomerate the ability to charge higher prices for ads, degrade ad quality, and further stifle innovation in both the direct and programmatic ad markets.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.