Inside WPP’s multiyear plan to transform its giant media buying business GroupM

• WPP’s GroupM is in the midst of a multiyear transformation plan.
• The hugely influential ad buying division has lost ground to rivals this year.
• It has a plan to simplify its business, but that could make some senior leadership feel depowered.

Ad giant WPP’s media investment division GroupM has grown more than 23% since Christian Juhl took the reins as global CEO in 2019, but it stumbled this year, having lost more than $1.6 billion in business to competitors in the US alone, according to the research firm COMvergence.