MDC Partners Subsidiary Subpoenaed By DOJ

Add MDC Partners to the list of holding companies targeted by an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice looking into commercial production practices within the advertising industry.

In its annual 10K report filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission this week, MDC acknowledged that one of its subsidiaries has been subpoenaed by the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, which is looking into the matter.

The disclosure follows similar admissions issued in December by Interpublic, Publicis Groupe, Omnicom and WPP that one or more of their subsidiaries have been subpoenaed by the DOJ as well.

None of the firms have publicly identified specific units that have been subpoenaed but all have said they are cooperating with the DOJ.

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Word of the investigation surfaced in early December.

The Association of National Advertisers established a “Production Task Force” a few months ago to take a separate look at the issue. ANA CEO Bob Liodice said recently that the task force is still gathering information and will determine at a later date what conclusions to release publicly or whether a third party should be retained to conduct a broader probe.

 

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