Dentsu is undergoing a significant leadership overhaul after reporting a staggering A$2.9 billion loss. The holding company has also reversed its decision to sell its international business and announced plans to cut an additional 1,300 staff in 2026, following 2,100 job losses in 2025.
Longtime company executive and Dentsu Japan boss Takeshi Sano will take over as president and global CEO from Hiroshi Igarashi in March. Dentsu highlighted that Sano has driven strong growth at Dentsu Japan, which grew by 6.2% in FY25.
"Amid rapid shifts in our business and competitive environment, we continue to thoughtfully evolve our leadership approach and management practices to support the pace of our transformation and strengthen execution, all while maximizing our contribution to client growth," Sano said.
"Dentsu will continue to sharpen the distinctive value that sets us apart and position ourselves as a true growth partner, supporting clients consistently from strategy through to execution. By creating momentum for our clients, partners, people, and society, we will reinforce trust with stakeholders and steadily advance the sustainable enhancement of our corporate value."
As part of the leadership restructure, Dentsu has eliminated its global COO and president roles. Regional CEOs and practice leaders will now report directly to Sano.
Dentsu had been attempting to sell its international business for several months. Aside from Japan, Dentsu International reported declines across other regions, including a 3% drop in the Americas, 1.8% in EMEA, and 6.8% in APAC. Although organic growth was down by 6.8% in APAC, it grew by 0.3% in the fourth quarter.
Among a series of announcements, Dentsu confirmed it would no longer pursue a sale of its international business.
In Australia, Dentsu’s chief executive Rob Harvey expressed confidence that the holding company can turn around its fortunes. "It has been a challenging couple of years, but I think there’s real optimism in the culture and a growing sense of confidence," he said. "The work that we’ve done in the last three months in particular, and building that confidence and belief and connecting the culture is really paying dividends."
"I am confident that we’ve seen the bottom of the downturn within our revenue and we’re seeing really positive optimism in our revenue forecast going forward. So Q4 will be strong for us, and we see positivity going into next year."
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