Ad infinitum: WPP & the death of a sector - from bubble to rubble

The sad history of the rise and fall of WPP. Even if WPP works something out with its creditors, it is a dispirited and divided house whose financial forays will not quickly be forgiven.

From Bubble to Rubble

Ad Finitum: WPP and the Death of a Sector

William Phillips

One worldwide agency chain was not enough for Martin Sorrell's WPP. Less than four years after the Saatchis' former "little numbers man" had struck out on his own, he added Ogilvy to JWT. The strains these acquisitions imposed were more than monetary: even if WPP works something out with its creditors, it is a dispirited and divided house whose financial forays will not quickly be forgiven.

Black Monday - 19 October, 1987 - was a false alarm for advertising agencies and the rest of the...

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