S4Capital founder Sir Martin Sorrell warns AI is fuelling job cut and simultaneously called WPP ‘catatonic’ after Goldman sell rating.
S4Capital has cut a further 150 jobs in 2026, as Sir Martin Sorrell warned the advertising industry will be employing “fewer people” in future thanks to AI.
The marketing group’s workforce has fallen to roughly 6,200 from 7,000 last year, as clients continue to cautiously limit spending due to economic uncertainty and geopolitical incidents.
The company predicted a fall in revenue with 2026 set to reach between £632m to £663m after it reported a first-quarter 2026 net revenue of £149.2m, which represented a year-on-year decline of 8.9%.
This is fuelled by advances in AI, argued Sorrell: “There are going to be fewer art directors and copywriters,” he told City AM.
“There’ll be fewer people in media planning and buying. Net-net, to answer your question head-on, there will be less. Companies are doing very, very well. The puzzle is why they’re not spending more. I think it’s because they’re squeezing their supply chain.”
WPP’s sell rating is ‘catatonic’, says Sorrell
Sorrell also weighed in on the recent sell rating given to WPP by Goldman Sachs. The rating, published earlier this month, set a 240p price target on a stock, which has already lost over 80% of its value over eight years, sending shares down a further 4.5% to 265.6p on the day.
“Mark Read really should be hung, drawn and quartered,” Sorrell, who spent 33 years at the British holding company, told the paper. “It’s outrageous, actually. Everybody’s polite about it, but it is outrageous.”
“I think they are further gone than before. It’s catatonic. It’s a bust of a flush.”
The bank outlined that a return to meaningful growth could be difficult if the organisation is not fundamentally re-shaped, with free cash flow predicted to fall to just £648m by 2028, down from over £1bn generated in both 2022 and 2023.
WPP has implemented a £500m cost saving initiative, but this is likely to be offset by wage inflation and higher staffing costs – despite Sorrell’s earlier promise of AI disruptions.
