Omnicom Q2 2026: IPG merger lifts reported revenue 63% to $6.56B; like-for-like organic growth accelerates to 6.1% and cost synergies push core adjusted EBITA margin to 17.8%, with adjusted EPS up 29% to $2.65.
Revenue
$6.6B
+63.4% YoY
Net income
$585M
+127.0% YoY
Diluted EPS
$2.08
+58.8% YoY
Operating margin
14.1%
Headline: IPG deal lifts reported revenue 63%, but the numbers to watch are 6.1% organic growth and a wider margin
Omnicom's second quarter of 2026 is the second full quarter that includes Interpublic Group (IPG). Omnicom completed that merger on November 26, 2025, and it dominates the reported year-over-year comparison. Revenue rose 63.4% to $6.56 billion from $4.02 billion. Diluted EPS rose to $2.08 from $1.31, and net income attributable to Omnicom more than doubled to $584.8 million. Most of that jump comes from adding IPG's agencies (McCann, UM, Initiative, Weber Shandwick, Golin, MRM, IPG Health, Acxiom), which the Q2 2025 figures do not include.
The more useful test is on a like-for-like basis. Omnicom reports "Core Operations": Omnicom and IPG combined in both years, excluding businesses it has sold or is trying to sell. On that basis, revenue grew 7.2% to $5.995 billion. That breaks down into 6.1% organic growth (growth from existing businesses, stripping out currency moves and acquisitions), 1.1% from a weaker U.S. dollar, and a negligible $2.4 million from acquisitions. The organic rate is a clear step up: first-half organic growth was 5.0%, which implies roughly 3.9% in Q1.
Key metrics
Metric
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Revenue (reported)
$6,562.5M
$4,015.6M
+63.4%
Revenue, Core Operations (combined basis)
$5,995.0M
$5,591.9M
+7.2%
Organic revenue growth (Core Operations)
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The 2025 Core Operations figures combine Omnicom and IPG as if they were one company. Omnicom notes they are for comparison only and are not formal pro forma figures.
Why margins widened: cost savings from the merger
Operating margin is the share of revenue left after running the business, before interest and tax. It rose to 14.1% from 10.9%. Part of that rise comes from smaller one-off charges. Q2 2026 carried $87.1 million of merger-related costs: $40.1 million of integration and transaction costs plus $47.0 million of severance and repositioning. Q2 2025 carried $154.8 million: $66.0 million of deal costs plus $88.8 million of severance tied to an earlier efficiency program. Stripping those out, adjusted operating margin still rose to 15.4% from 14.8%.
The cleaner signal is adjusted EBITA, which is earnings before interest, taxes and amortization of acquired intangible assets, with the merger charges also excluded. On the like-for-like Core Operations basis it rose 20.4% to $1,068.8 million, and the margin widened to 17.8% from 15.9%. The earnings release credits this to "cost reduction synergies". Put simply, the combined company is running the two agency groups with less overlapping cost than they had apart. Profit growing about three times as fast as revenue (20.4% vs 7.2%) is what a merger built on cost savings is supposed to produce, and this quarter shows it happening.
The merger also adds a large non-cash cost that hides some of the improvement in GAAP figures. Amortization expense rose to $117.7 million from $19.8 million, mostly because IPG's client relationships and other intangible assets are now being written down over time. That cost reduced diluted EPS by $0.31 this quarter, versus $0.08 a year ago.
Where the revenue came from
Beginning in 2026, Omnicom regrouped its disciplines. Precision marketing and data (including Acxiom) now sit inside Integrated Media, and Health is reported as its own line.
Discipline
Q2 2026 reported
Q2 2025 reported
Reported change
Share of Core Ops revenue (Q2 2026)
Integrated Media
$3,259.4M
$1,999.1M
+63.0%
52.5%
Advertising
$1,079.1M
$711.9M
+51.6%
15.7%
Public Relations
$708.9M
$370.0M
+91.6%
11.3%
Health
$586.0M
$325.9M
+79.8%
9.3%
Experiential & Other
$929.1M
$608.7M
+52.6%
11.2%
The reported changes above mostly show how much each discipline gained from IPG. Public Relations nearly doubled because Weber Shandwick and Golin joined FleishmanHillard and Ketchum. The filing does not give organic growth for each discipline, so these growth rates cannot be read as underlying momentum. The only underlying clue by discipline is in the cost lines: third-party service costs rose $604.0 million to $1.5 billion, "primarily due to growth in our Integrated Media discipline and the acquisition of IPG." Media planning and buying, together with commerce and data, now make up more than half of Core Operations revenue.
By geography, the U.S. was 59.0% of Core Operations revenue ($3.54 billion). Management points to "a strong performance in the United States" in North America. In Asia-Pacific it cites "a strong performance in all markets". In Latin America, growth was "across all countries in the region." The mix of client industries also shifted with IPG. Pharma & Health rose to 18% of revenue from 15%, while Auto fell to 10% from 13%. The client base is also less concentrated: the ten largest clients are now 15.3% of trailing-12-month revenue, down from 19.0%.
Businesses being sold
Omnicom is selling parts of the combined group, mostly within Advertising and Experiential & Other. It recorded a $34.3 million write-down on those businesses in Q1. In Q2, sold and held-for-sale businesses still contributed $567.5 million of revenue at an adjusted EBITA margin of only 10.3%, compared with 17.8% for the core. Selling them lowers reported revenue, but it raises the group margin: they pulled consolidated adjusted EBITA margin down by about 0.6 points this quarter.
Below the operating line: more debt, more shares, heavy buybacks
Interest: Net interest expense more than doubled to $93.3 million from $40.7 million. The causes are IPG's assumed debt and about $1 billion of extra long-term debt from Q1 refinancing. Net debt (total debt minus cash) stood at $6.7 billion on June 30, up $4.4 billion since December 31, 2025. The leverage ratio under Omnicom's credit facility was 2.4x debt to EBITDA, against a 3.5x covenant cap. The company is rated BBB+ by S&P and Baa1 by Moody's.
Share count: Diluted shares rose 43.4% to 281.0 million because Omnicom issued stock to pay for IPG. That is why GAAP EPS grew 58.8% while net income grew 127%.
Buybacks: Under a $5.0 billion authorization approved in February 2026, Omnicom ran a $2.5 billion accelerated share repurchase. In that arrangement a bank delivers the shares up front and the final price is settled later; it delivered 32.2 million shares in total and settled in May. Year-to-date buybacks total about $3 billion, including $200 million in Q2. Management plans to complete the full $5 billion program by April 2027.
Cash flow: Operating activities used $932.4 million of cash in the first half, after a $2.4 billion outflow for working capital. Omnicom says its working capital cycle "typically peaks during the second quarter." A first-half outflow is normal for the company, but it adds to the rise in net debt while buybacks are running this fast.
Tax: The effective tax rate fell to 27.1% from 30.2%. On an adjusted basis it was 26.0%, compared with 26.5%.
Takeaway: Leave the IPG deal out and the quarter comes down to two numbers. Organic growth sped up to 6.1% from roughly 3.9% in Q1, and cost savings lifted like-for-like adjusted EBITA margin by 1.9 points to 17.8%. That combination drove the 29% rise in adjusted EPS. Buybacks helped on a per-share basis, and they are being paid for partly with debt, since net debt rose $4.4 billion in six months.
Outlook
Omnicom's release and 10-Q do not give revenue or margin guidance for 2026. The only quantified outlook is currency: at July 22, 2026 exchange rates, management expects foreign exchange to have no effect on Q3 revenue and to add about 1.0% for the full year. CEO John Wren said "clients are consolidating more work with us". He named three priorities: agentic (AI-agent-driven) marketing, deeper client partnerships, and new consumer channels such as sports and entertainment, creator content, connected commerce and AI-driven discovery.
Our read: There are two questions for the rest of 2026. The first is whether 6.1% organic growth lasts. A single quarter's acceleration after a 3.9% Q1 is encouraging but not yet a trend. It also comes while the merged agencies are still being reorganized, which is usually when clients put accounts up for review. The second is whether margins keep widening as integration costs ($99.5 million in the first half) and severance fall away. Three things in the next results will show whether this quarter was durable or a peak for merger savings: Core Operations organic growth, Core adjusted EBITA margin versus 15.9% a year earlier, and progress on selling the lower-margin businesses. Balance-sheet leverage at 2.4x leaves room under the 3.5x covenant, but with $2 billion of the buyback still to go, debt levels are worth watching if organic growth slows.
Figures are from Omnicom's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 and its July 28, 2026 earnings release and investor presentation (Form 8-K). Adjusted EBITA, adjusted EPS, organic growth and Core Operations are Omnicom's own non-GAAP measures.