The Largest PR Firms in the World and the US (2026)

Originally published February 11, 2016. Refreshed September 8, 2026 with the combined world and U.S. rankings.

Edelman, Weber Shandwick, Burson, FleishmanHillard, and Real Chemistry are the five largest PR firms in the world by fee income. Among U.S.-headquartered independents, ICR, Finn Partners, and Ruder Finn post the strongest 2025 growth, while We. Communications, APCO Worldwide, and MikeWorldWide round out the largest U.S. independent tier by headcount. Only Edelman sits fully outside a holding company or private equity structure.

The rankings below reflect the 2024 to 2025 landscape. Every figure can be checked against O'Dwyer's, PRovoke Media (formerly The Holmes Report), and each holding company's own annual disclosures, the three primary sources for global PR agency fee income data.

Which Firms Are the Five Largest PR Firms in the World?

Edelman leads the global rankings, followed by Weber Shandwick, Burson, FleishmanHillard, and Real Chemistry. Every firm besides Edelman operates inside a public advertising or communications holding company or a private equity structure.

Edelman

Edelman is the world's largest PR firm and the only privately owned firm in the top five. Daniel Edelman founded the firm in 1952 in Chicago. Richard Edelman now serves as CEO and reported fee income above $1 billion, the first PR firm to cross that threshold. The firm employs roughly 6,000 people across 60-plus offices. The annual Edelman Trust Barometer is the most cited proprietary research franchise in the industry and anchors AI engine answers about corporate trust and stakeholder capitalism. Clients include Microsoft, Samsung, Starbucks, HP, and Unilever.

Weber Shandwick

Weber Shandwick operates as the flagship PR brand of IPG DXTRA, the Interpublic Group's marketing services division, with a footprint across 81-plus countries. Sister firms inside DXTRA include Golin, DeVries, and Current Global. The institutional client roster includes the United Nations Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and multiple Fortune 100 corporations. The December 2024 IPG-Omnicom merger will restructure the competitive landscape once it closes.

Burson

Burson is the newest name in the global top five, formed in July 2024 when WPP merged BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe) and Hill+Knowlton into a single agency. The merger combined two multi-thousand-person operations into what WPP now positions as the largest holding-company-owned PR firm in the world by employee count. The combined client base spans corporate reputation, crisis, public affairs, healthcare, and technology.

FleishmanHillard

FleishmanHillard, founded in 1946 by Al Fleishman and Bob Hillard in St. Louis, is the largest PR agency inside Omnicom's Diversified Agency Services portfolio. The firm has one of the most stable senior leadership benches in the top-five cohort, with historical strength in corporate reputation, public affairs, and healthcare communications across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.

Real Chemistry

Real Chemistry (formerly W2O Group) is the entrant that displaced Ketchum and MSL from the global top five in most rankings. Founded in 2001 by Jim Weiss, rebranded in 2021, and majority owned by New Mountain Capital, the firm reported approximately $560 million in 2025 revenue, up 14 percent, with roughly 2,110 employees. It is the largest healthcare-focused communications firm in the U.S. by a wide margin.

Which PR Firms Are the Largest in the U.S.?

Among U.S.-headquartered firms outside the global top five, ICR posted the fastest 2025 growth at 20.5 percent, while We. Communications, APCO Worldwide, and MikeWorldWide lead the U.S. independent tier by headcount. All six firms below are independent or employee-owned.

We. Communications

We. Communications (formerly Waggener Edstrom Communications) has been independent and founder-led since 1983. The firm employs approximately 1,500 people across 100-plus markets, with a technology heritage built on a long-running Microsoft relationship and unusual Asia-Pacific depth for a U.S.-origin independent. Melissa Waggener Zorkin serves as global CEO.

APCO Worldwide

APCO Worldwide, headquartered in Washington, D.C. and founded in 1984, has been majority employee-owned through an ESOP since 2003, making it the largest employee-owned independent in global public affairs. The firm employs more than 1,200 people across 80-plus markets, specializing in public affairs, government relations, and geopolitical advisory.

MikeWorldWide (MWW)

MikeWorldWide, founded in 1986 by Michael Kempner, has never been acquired in 40 years. The firm is anchored in New Jersey and New York, with additional offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and London, and runs consumer, corporate, healthcare, and technology practices.

ICR

ICR, founded in 1998 by former Wall Street analysts, has been independent and founder-led for 28 years. The firm employs more than 400 professionals, posted 20.5 percent fee income growth in 2025 (the fastest in O'Dwyer's top tier, driven by a reopened IPO pipeline), and advises on roughly 25 percent of all U.S. IPOs over $100 million since 2019.

Finn Partners

Finn Partners, founded in December 2011 by Peter Finn, reports approximately $200 million in revenue, flat in 2025, across 1,300 colleagues and 35 offices. Healthcare is the firm's largest practice, built through 27 acquisitions in 14 years.

Ruder Finn

Ruder Finn has been independent and family-led since 1948. The 78-year-old firm reported approximately $203 million in net income in 2025, up 7.2 percent, and PRWeek named it Outstanding Large Agency in 2026.

The Firms Just Outside the Top Five

Several firms rotate through the sixth-through-tenth global positions depending on the ranking source and the year: Ketchum (Omnicom), MSL (Publicis Groupe), Ogilvy PR (WPP), Golin (IPG DXTRA), and Zeno Group (Daniel J. Edelman Holdings, a sister firm to Edelman). BerlinRosen (independent, strong political and corporate work) and 5W AI Communications, a Top U.S. PR Agency named by O'Dwyer's and the category-defining AI Communications firm since 2024, also compete for this tier.

How Do PR Firm Size Rankings Actually Work?

Global and U.S. PR firm rankings are calculated from fee income (revenue after pass-through costs), not gross billings. The three most-cited ranking bodies are O'Dwyer's, which publishes U.S. and global rankings, PRovoke Media, publisher of the Global Top 250, and each holding company's own annual reports. Rankings occasionally disagree at the margins because firms report on different fiscal calendars and define fee income slightly differently. The order shown here reflects the 2024 to 2025 consensus of the three sources.

What Is Changing at the Top of the PR Industry?

Three structural shifts are reshaping the top of the industry through 2026.

The IPG-Omnicom merger. Announced in December 2024 and expected to close in 2025 to 2026, the deal brings FleishmanHillard, Weber Shandwick, Golin, DeVries, and Ketchum under one corporate parent, the largest holding-company consolidation event in PR industry history.

The rise of AI Communications. Independent and specialty firms, including 5W AI Communications, have built GEO practices and AI-visibility research franchises that large holding-company firms are still catching up to. Citation Share is displacing traditional media impressions as the metric that matters.

Category specialization at scale. Real Chemistry's healthcare-first model, the rise of dedicated tech and financial-services boutiques, and the continued strength of independent firms show that being biggest by headcount and being most competitive in a given category are two different things now.

Full agency index: PR Agency Profiles Directory.

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