It’s a shock that Publicis Groupe hasn’t gone all-out on sports activities advertising already, however CEO Arthur Sadoun is trying to place that proper with the acquisition of 160over90, simply in time for the beginning of the FIFA World Cup in June. The worldwide sports activities and leisure company was beforehand a part of WME Group, proprietor of well-known expertise company William Morris Endeavor.
160over90 brings on board greater than 670 workers within the US, UK, EMEA and APAC in a deal considered price round $600 million. Publicis claims that 160over90’s providing will plug in neatly to the company group’s present knowledge and creator capabilities, serving to the French group to reap the benefits of the $150 billion sports activities media market, plus $90 billion of sponsorship alternatives.
Publicis Sport launched in October 2025 with Suzy Deering, previously of Verizon, Ford and eBay, as its CEO – presumably with this acquisition in thoughts.
Sadoun stated: “Within the age of AI, sport has change into one of the high-value channels for purchasers… By combining 160over90’s scale and experience in sports activities experiences, tradition, and expertise with the business’s strongest related influencer platform, experiential capabilities, and data-driven insights, we’re disrupting a extremely fragmented panorama by making a unified, end-to-end platform that connects manufacturers to followers in methods which can be each significant and measurable.”
Mark Shapiro, president and managing accomplice of WME Group,stated: “Combining forces with Publicis Sports activities will create an unmatched providing for manufacturers trying to transfer quicker and create deeper connections with sports activities followers, properties, and content material. Moreover, WME Group’s new collaboration with Publicis Groupe will ship extra alternatives for our expertise and companions to understand their enterprise ambitions at scale”
