A former CEO within WPP Media is suing the media-buying subsidiary and its holding company, WPP, accusing it of wrongful termination, retaliation and violations of whistleblower protection laws in California and New York.
Richard Foster, who served as CEO of Motion Content Group until early July of 2025, alleged in the lawsuit that his actions of reporting what “he reasonably believed” to be unlawful and unethical practices regarding WPP’s rebate ad revenue recognition, along with his refusal to participate in such practices, led to the termination of himself and his team.
The case, Foster v. WPP plc and GroupM Worldwide LLC d/b/a WPP Media, was filed Wednesday in the Supreme Court of New York for the county of New York. The lawsuit is seeking over $100 million in damages.
The lawsuit alleged that WPP Media — which rebranded from GroupM in May 2025 — leveraged its client spend to “force many ad-supported television and media platforms to give [it] discounts, which, rather than being passed back to the clients, [WPP Media] turned into a non-disclosed profit center.”
A large portion of WPP Media’s profits stem from extracted rebates, media inventory and other financial incentives at the expense of the holding company’s clients. According to the lawsuit, Foster estimated that, over the past five years, WPP Media generated rebate-driven deals valued from $3 billion to $4 billion. From that, the media-buying subsidiary “improperly” kept around $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
...
Rap star Nicki Minaj made an appearance at the US mission to the United Nations to echo President Donald Trump’s false claim that Christians are being systematically killed in Nigeria. Minaj appea...