WPP begins search for new boss after Sorrell steps down

● Departure of longest-serving CEO of FTSE 100 company follows investigation

Shares in WPP will come into sharp focus this morning after the chief executive of the world’s largest advertising agency resigned at the weekend.

Sir Martin Sorrell, who has been at the helm of the industry giant for the past 33 years, becoming the highest paid boss of a FTSE 100 company, announced late on Saturday evening that he was stepping aside. The move followed an internal investigation into his personal conduct at the company.

WPP stressed that the probe had concluded, adding “the allegation did not involve amounts that are material”.

Sorrell, 73, said in a statement: “Obviously I am sad to leave WPP after 33 years. It has been a passion, focus and source of energy for so long. However, I believe it is in the best interests of the business if I step down now.

“I leave the company in very good hands, as the board knows. I will particularly miss the daily interactions with everyone across the world and want to thank them and their families for all they have done, and will do, for WPP.”

The firm said that he will be treated as having retired, with chairman Roberto Quarta becoming executive chair until a new chief executive has been appointed.

Sorrell – the longest serving chief executive of a FTSE 100 company – denied any wrongdoing after the allegations surfaced earlier this month, but said he understood the company had to investigate it.

He previously worked at Saatchi & Saatchi, and was knighted in the Queen’s New Year honours list in 2000.

Quarta said: “Sir Martin has been the driving force behind the expansion of WPP to create the global leader in marketing services. During this time, the company has been successful because it has valued and nurtured outstanding talent at every level – within and well beyond our leadership teams.

“On behalf of the board I would like to recognise these achievements and thank Sir Martin for his commitment to the business over more than three decades.”

WPP also confirmed that Mark Read, chief executive of Wunderman and WPP Digital, and Andrew Scott, WPP corporate development director and chief operating officer, Europe, have been appointed as joint chief operating officers of the group.

WPP, then Wire and Plastic Products, was a UK manufacturer of wire baskets for the first 14 years of its life until 1985 when Sorrell took a loan out against shares he owned in Saatchi & Saatchi and purchased a stake in the company after seeking a public entity through which he could build a marketing company.

The company was renamed the WPP Group a year later, Sorrell its chief executive, and then followed a series of acquisitions – research business Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), the Ogilvy Group, and the Young & Rubicam Group among others – as the company expanded its footprint across the world.