WPP names Sorrel’s successor
• Leading internal candidate appointed as CEO to guide structural change at world’s biggest advertising firm
WPP named company veteran Mark Read as its new CEO on Monday to steer the world’s biggest advertising firm through a period of change following the acrimonious exit of its founder, Martin Sorrell.
WPP named company veteran Mark Read as its new CEO on Monday to steer the world’s biggest advertising firm through a period of change following the acrimonious exit of its founder, Martin Sorrell.
Fifty-one-year-old Read takes charge of the $21bn company at a tough time following a year-long sharp downturn in trading sparked by competition from Google and Facebook and pressure from clients to simplify the business and cut pricing.
He also knows that Sorrell, still a major WPP shareholder and his one-time mentor, will be looking over his shoulder.
Sorrell wrote to Read and new COO Andrew Scott to wish them well, a person familiar with the matter said.
Sorrell, 73, has set up a new company which in July beat WPP in the race to buy a Dutch digital agency.
Read, who joined WPP in 1989, said the industry is going through “structural change, not structural decline”.
He plans to rejuvenate WPP by combining the power of its creative agencies with better technology and analytics. “It is a challenge that we’re keen to get on with,” he said.
“What makes WPP special, apart from its people, is the power of creativity, imagination and ideas but we need to combine that with an understanding of how technology is reshaping our industry,” he said.
Read was seen as the leading internal candidate after he spent nine years on the board. He has worked on strategy, client retention and digital operations. In April he became joint COO with Scott.
WPP said Scott will continue in that role, while Roberto Quarta would resume his role as nonexecutive chairman. Senior colleagues, former executives and analysts said Read’s track record from running the WPP digital agency Wunderman, combined with his knowledge of the sprawling business, make him the right man for the job.
Zaid Al-Qassab, the chief brand and marketing officer at WPP client BT, said he is delighted that Read got the job.
“He has shown himself to be a shrewd, thoughtful operator,” he said.