Author: Michael Bürgi

While the world of marketing and media keeps a close eye on the Big Three holding companies — can Publicis keep up its impressive winning streak? How else can Omnicom wring value out of the IPG acquisition? Can Cindy Rose successfully reverse WPP’s downward trajectory? — something just went down in Japan that is expected to have a considerable effect on Dentsu’s fortunes.

Two weeks ago when Japanese-owned Dentsu announced its 2025 full-year earnings, global CEO Hiro Igarashi announced he was stepping down, to be replaced by Takeshi Sano at the end of March. Sano, who’s been with the holdco since 1992, most recently was CEO of Dentsu Japan (the holding company’s most successful division by far) and deputy global COO, which means he’s familiar with the current operations outside of Japan — and what’s not been going right.

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The $100 million whistleblower lawsuit Richard Foster filed against WPP last November is back in focus. New court filings — including WPP’s motion to dismiss and exhibits that place Foster’s own internal documents into the public record for the first time — have added significant texture to both sides of a case that initial headlines only scratched the surface of.

Most notably among the exhibits is Foster’s own internal report to GroupM CEO Brian Lesser, which contains internal data on client opt-in rates, platform spend, and income targets that haven’t been public until now. The materials were first reported by The Times.

Before unpacking those materials, here’s a recap of how the case reached this point. 

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