Welcome in, today is Wednesday, September second, and we begin with the Financial Times reporting another round of job cuts at WPP. That reporting has the group cutting up to one thousand more roles by the end of twenty twenty-six, sourced to people familiar with the matter, and it follows our earlier coverage of the Elevate28 restructure. Per that account, headcount stood at ninety-seven thousand three hundred eighty-eight on June thirtieth, after roughly eleven thousand roles removed since the start of twenty twenty-five. Reuters reports WPP did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and that it could not verify the report. The same reporting has the cuts running alongside a smaller property footprint, with three WPP buildings on the south side of the Thames likely to be consolidated into two, and further disposals of non-core businesses. Across the sector, that account counts at least eighteen thousand agency jobs cut at WPP, Omnicom, Dentsu and IPG over eighteen months, which reads as a floor shift in holding-company staffing rather than one company's adjustment. Industry reaction leans skeptical that reductions on this scale are compatible with service quality, with a recurring question about what the cumulative cuts mean for existing accounts. On the platforms side, new detail in the Federal Trade Commission's advertising case against Amazon, following our report on the filing. Marketing Dive reports the complaint turns on a change Amazon made to its auction rules around twenty nineteen, adding what one internal document calls a hidden surcharge, known internally as a soft reserve price, above what the second-price auction would otherwise clear at. Per that account, the complaint alleges increases ran far higher for peak windows including Prime Day and Black Friday. Amazon rejects the claims, arguing in a blog post that cost per click on Sponsored Products was flat against inflation between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty-four while conversion rates rose twenty-four percent, and that soft reserve pricing is ordinary practice. The mechanics now in dispute are the ones setting clearing prices across most of United States retail media spend. Back to the holding companies. Decision Marketing reports Omnicom Media has put detail behind Hearts United, the network we covered at launch. In that account, the combination was in train before the ink dried on Omnicom's thirteen and a half billion dollar acquisition of Interpublic, and the two shops arrive with billings up fifty percent at Hearts and Science and thirty-three percent at Mediahub between twenty twenty-one and twenty twenty-five. The same reporting puts year-to-date new business at two hundred ninety-four million dollars in the United States and five hundred sixty-seven million globally. Hearts United now sits beside OMD, Initiative, PHD and UM, and five sibling networks under one parent is where conflict rules and roster overlap get settled. Industry reaction leans skeptical of the challenger framing, a recurring argument being that this reads as consolidation inside a cost-reduction program. In India, the Income-tax Department on Tuesday searched premises linked to Dentsu Media Group in a suspected tax evasion case, the Economic Times reports. Per that account, the searches covered Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru, with warrants issued to twenty companies, among them Dentsu Aegis Network India and Dentsu Media India. The department has not detailed the alleged evasion, and Dentsu was not immediately available for comment. The same reporting ties it to the group's fiscal twenty twenty-five annual report, in which Dentsu said it investigated transactions at an Indian subsidiary with outside advisers, reported its findings to Indian regulators, then received claims totalling five hundred twenty-two point eight crore rupees, which it rejected on legal advice, saying no bona fide goods or services were provided. Storyboard18 sets this in a longer run of scrutiny, including last year's competition-regulator searches of media agencies. The exposure is reputational as much as fiscal in a market the group has called its Asia-Pacific bright spot. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. Indian Television reports Godrej Consumer Products has expanded its WPP Media mandate across seven international markets, from Indonesia to Nigeria to Chile, after a three-month global pitch. Mumbrella reports Omnicom Media has lost Vanguard Australia from UM to independent PMG, and Australian Unity from Initiative to Nunn Media, both after pitch. And finally, across the category, Bernstein estimates Meta will pass Google Search in advertising revenue before the end of twenty twenty-six, that read crediting AI-driven targeting and delivery, with Meta taking nearly half of every incremental digital ad dollar in the second quarter.