Ray Seilie recently spoke with Digiday about the regulatory hurdles ahead of the planned merger between ad giants Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group, which, if completed, would create the world’s largest advertising agency. The merger has received conditional approval from the FTC, including a 30‑day public comment period and a consent order to limit political influence. However, the transaction still needs approvals from the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries.
“While the FTC is obligated to invite comments, it isn’t required to listen to them,” Ray tells Digiday. “It will be interesting to see which groups choose to submit comments and what positions they end up taking. But it would be unusual, especially with this administration, for those comments to result in a confession of error and a revision of the consent order.”
Ray later warns that other regions may not view the merger in the same light as US regulators, sharing that, “Their legal standards are different, so just because the U.S. believes a merger is competitive (subject to the consent order) does not mean that these other countries will automatically reach the same conclusion.”
