ADVERTISING INDUSTRY
New WPP head Mark Read will consider restructuring
London — Mark Read, tasked with running WPP after the sudden exit of founder Martin Sorrell, said he would look at restructuring the world’s biggest advertising group, but ruled out a break up. Digital boss Read, appointed joint chief operating officer alongside acquisitions specialist Andrew Scott, said on Monday the company had the tools to respond in an industry facing lower customer spending and technological upheaval. Quarterly sales were not as bad as feared, boosting WPP shares as much as 9% and easing some of the investor pressure on the owner of ad agencies JWT and Ogilvy & Mather. Analysts have speculated that WPP could sell its underperforming market research arm Kantar as an initial step to start to unwind the empire built up by Sorrell over more than three decades. Scott said the group would definitely look at disposing some minority assets it holds. First-quarter trading figures Read, who was previously on the board for nine years, was speaking as the group reported fi...
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