Top News:

1. WPP H1 revenue up 10.2%
WPP has posted 10.2% rise in H1 reported revenue at £ 6,755mn. Operating profit stood at £ 539mn, a 11.4% increase. WPP has said that the strong first-half is on the back of broad-based growth, sustained demand from clients and the transformation programme.

2. Dentsu acquires Extentia
Dentsu Group has entered an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Extentia, a technology and services firm with a focus on enterprise mobility, cloud engineering, and user experiences.

3. Warner Bros Discovery to merge HBO Max & discovery+
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) will be combining streaming services HBO Max and discovery+, and relaunching it as a combined streaming service in the summer of 2023, revealed the earnings call. The combined subscriber base sits at 92 million.

4. Reliance Retail to bring Balenciaga to India
Reliance Brand Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Retail, has entered into a strategic partnership with luxury fashion brand Balenciaga and will launch the brand in India soon, the company notified in a regulatory filing.

5. Facebook to shut live shopping features
Facebook will shut its live shopping feature from October 1 and focus on the short-form video platform Reels. Users will still be able to use Facebook Live to broadcast live events, but they won’t be able to create product playlists or tag products in their Live videos.