Sir Martin Sorrell fights hard to remain king of adland December 6, 2018 Sir Martin Sorrell channelled his inner Frank Sinatra recently and proclaimed that the success of his new venture S4 Capital would be “the best form of revenge” against WPP. “I want to build the best,” the businessman said of his new advertising outfit, which he previously called a “peanut” in comparison to the global scale [...]
Trade body says hardcore of ‘repeat offenders’ are failing to listen to investor views December 4, 2018 The trade body for UK investment managers has written to 32 companies on the Ftse-all share to register concern after they faced significant shareholder dissent for the last two years. The Investment Association (IA) said it was concerned that these companies had appeared on the public register, which tracks significant shareholder dissent, for the same [...]
Sorrell strikes again with deal for US digital advertisers December 4, 2018 Sir Martin Sorrell will make his second acquisition since leaving advertising giant WPP as he takes over Mighty Hive, a day after his new outfit announced it was in advanced talks with the company. S4 Capital, which was set up by Sorrell after he left the world's biggest advertising firm earlier this year, said it will [...]
Sorrell’s S4 Capital says talks to buy ad firm Mightyhive are now ‘advanced’ December 3, 2018 Sir Martin Sorrell’s new company S4 Capital has confirmed it is now in advanced talks to buy Mightyhive, a programmatic advertising group based in San Francisco. S4 plans to integrate the firm as part of its drive to form a new business combining media and technology. It already confirmed talks were taking place last month, [...]
M&G buys Financial Times headquarters from Pearson for £115m November 14, 2018 Publishing giant Pearson today agreed to sell the Financial Times's headquarters to investment firm M&G for £115m. The building at One Southwark Bridge, on the bank of the Thames, has been home to the Financial Times since 1987. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2018. Now the newspaper will move back to its [...]
Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital confirms deal talks as it chases US-based Mightyhive November 9, 2018 S4 Capital has confirmed deal talks are underway following rumours that it is making a play for a US advertising firm. Sir Martin Sorrell’s new venture told investors this morning that “it is in discussions with the owners of several digital marketing services businesses about a possible acquisition”. Media reports suggest that S4 is close [...]
Editor’s Notes: Business chiefs can do great things in politics, but what about the pay cut? November 2, 2018 Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has raised the prospect of senior business figures giving up the boardroom and joining the Foreign Office in the service of their country. When I asked a former senior diplomat, with an alphabet of letters after his name, what he made of this proposal he slapped his hands on his head [...]
WPP boss Mark Read: We’ve had a tough time for two years October 25, 2018 WPP chief executive Mark Read has said he is determined to improve the company’s performance to compete with its peers, as shares plunged on this morning’s quarterly results. The advertising business dropped as much as 22.5 per cent to 818 pence per share earlier today. Sales fell 1.5 per cent in the third quarter, following [...]
WPP loses major Ford advertising contract to US rival Omnicom October 9, 2018 WPP has been dealt a major blow as it lost a key Ford advertising contract to the agency of one of its biggest US rivals, Omnicom. The news will be a major setback for new chief exec Mark Read, who was only appointed at the start of September. Ford was one of WPP's longest-standing advertising partnerships, as [...]
Martin Sorrell says he regrets nothing months after leaving WPP amid allegations of misconduct October 1, 2018 Sir Martin Sorrell has said he has no regrets over his behaviour while in charge of WPP. The former chief executive left the firm in April after claims of personal misconduct, saying his departure was in “the best interest of the business.” In an interview with the BBC, Sorrell denied treating subordinates poorly, using company [...]