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 [...]
Ogilvy names Piyush Pandey as new chief creative officer December 5, 2018 Ogilvy has appointed Piyush Pandey as its new chief creative officer following the dismissal of Tham Khai Meng over misconduct allegations. Pandey is currently the advertising agency’s chairman in India and has served at the company for over 30 years. He will retain his current duties in Mumbai and take over the new role on [...]
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, [...]
Volkswagen slashes 90 per cent of ad agencies to drive down costs November 27, 2018 Volkswagen is cutting the number of advertising agencies it works with by more than 90 per cent in a bid to improve marketing efficiency. The German car manufacturer has said it will reduce its pool of 40 agencies to just three, while keeping its marketing budget stable at roughly €1.5bn (£1.3bn). Omnicon will be responsible [...]
WPP to merge JWT and Wunderman as part of streamlining plan November 26, 2018 Advertising giant WPP is merging its J Walter Thompson (JWT) and Wunderman agencies as the company attempts to streamline its complex business structure. The deal to combine the two subsidiaries will create a new entity called Wunderman Thompson, which will have headquarters in New York and London. The new company will employ roughly 20,000 people in 200 [...]
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 [...]