To describe the company built by Sir Martin Sorrell over the past 32 years as sprawling is to underplay just what he created. Taking charge of WPP in 1986, Sir Martin achieved the feat of turning a Kent wire shopping basket maker into the world’s largest advertising agency group.
The company he has bequeathed to a successor is a business that employs more than 200,000 staff, working from more than 3,000 offices, run by more than 160 companies, held through 1,800 subsidiaries. Just getting their head around how the business functions may take his replacement at least a year or two.
However, whoever replaces Sir Martin is unlikely to be allowed the luxury of years; three earnings disappointments in 2017 and a profit downgrade last