Analysts had expected the company to post earnings of 15 cents a share, in contrast to the loss of four cents a share posted.
It is the second quarter in a row that Interpublic has missed analyst forecasts, and comes as it deals with high debt levels and the fallout from an accounting scandal that lead to it restating $181.3m (£113.4m) in earnings.
Chief financial officer Sean Orr has since resigned, with chief operating officer Chris Coughlin set to take over the role this month.
Interpublic said that business conditions remain difficult, but that in the US there was a trend towards increasing marketing spend instead of cutting costs, and that this could lead to a rise in revenues over the next six months.
"In light of this complex set of variables and a business environment that remains challenging, the company has decided to withdraw previous earnings guidance," the company said in a statement.
Nonetheless, David Bell chairman and CEO of Interpublic, said that the company was in the early stages of a turnaround, saying: "Our results this quarter hold no surprises."
Organic revenue was down by 3% across the group, and the earnings figure was hit by a $105.4m charge for restructuring.
Revenues for advertising and media, which includes McCann-Erickson WorldGroup and Initiative Media, increased by 1.4% to $970m, while marketing services, including public relations network Weber Shandwick Worldwide, fell by 0.8% to $529m, particularly hard hit by an 8.3% decline outside the US market.
Interpublic also said that it had reduced debt levels from $2.95bn to $2.7bn, partly due to the disposal of NFO WorldGroup, which was sold on July 10 to Taylor Nelson Sofres in a deal worth $400m in cash and equity worth $35.4m.
"We continue to believe that the back half of this year and the first six months of 2004 will finally provide a firm benchmark from which to assess Interpublic's future prospects," Bell said.
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