M+C Saatchi’s global CEO Zaid Al-Qassab is reportedly set to step down as early as this week.
Sky News in the UK reported the former Channel 4 boss will be stepping down, with the M+C Saatchi planning to announce the news this week.
In December, M+C said in response to previous press reports about Al-Qassab’s departure that it would not comment on speculation and that succession planning is something the board keeps under review.
Locally, M+C Saatchi declined to comment when reached by B&T. We had not received a comment from M+C’s global comms team by the time of publication. Though it is the middle of the night in London, in fairness.
Al-Qassab was appointed M+C’s CEO in February 2024. He’s taken the business on a significant repositioning and rationalising of its operations, including closing its Bohemia media buying brand in Australia. Instead, it is focused more on its Sports+Entertainment operations and its Performance digital media brand led out of Singapore.
He also led the business to abandon the ampersand in its name in favour of its new “+”.
In January, it issued a trading update to the London Stock Exchange saying it expected FL net revenue for FY 2025 to decline around -7 per cent (or around -2.5 per cent excluding Australia) with reported net revenue of £210 million and operating profit of £26 million.
“Through the implementation of our strategic regional growth teams, we saw improved pipeline conversion in the second half of FY 2025, translating into multi-specialism wins across various markets. These include Coca-Cola as part of their Premier League sponsorship amplification, two creative strategy and development roster framework wins with the UK Government, a win for a major consumer launch for a Super Bowl spot and increased scope of work for JP Morgan Chase and Ferrari. Whilst macroeconomic challenges persist, we are confident that the business will achieve profitable growth in 2026, underpinned by our long-term value drivers and core growth markets,” it said.
In November, M+C issued a trading update to the London Stock Exchange downgrading its financial forecast up until the the end of 2025.
The holding company said that it had ben “adversely impacted by the unprecedented US Government shutdown” and that this had an impact on its Issues specialism, which it expected to be a significant contributor to the M+C’s fourth quarter revenue and profit.
M+C traditionally reports its full year financial results in April.
