WPP plc

Type	Public limited company
Traded as	LSE: WPP NASDAQ: WPPGY
Industry	Advertising agency
Founded	1985
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom (Head office) Dublin, Republic of Ireland (Registered and Executive office)
Key people	Philip Lader (Chairman) Martin Sorrell (Founder and CEO)
Products	Branding & identity Consumer insights Design Digital Marketing Market research Media planning and buying Public relations Relationship marketing
Revenue	£10,022 million (2011)[1]
Operating income	£1,429.0 million (2011)[1]
Net income	£882.3 million (2011)[1]
Employees	158,000 (2011)[2]
Subsidiaries	Grey Global Group Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Young & Rubicam JWT Hill & Knowlton Burson-Marsteller GroupM Cohn & Wolfe
Website	WPP.com

WPP plc (LSE: WPP, NASDAQ: WPPGY) is a global advertising agency company with its main management office in London, United Kingdom, and its registered and executive office in Dublin, Ireland.^[3] It is the world's largest advertising group by revenues, and employs over 150,000 people^[4] in 2,400 offices in 107 countries.^[2][5] It owns a number of advertising, public relations and market research networks, including Grey, Burson-Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton, JWT, Ogilvy Group, TNS and Young & Rubicam.^[2] The company is well known for going to great lengths to lower its own corporate tax bill, paying only 1.6% of total revenue in taxes in 2010.^[6]

Its primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange and it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has a secondary listing on NASDAQ.

History[link]

Wire and Plastic Products plc was founded in 1971 as a manufacturer of wire shopping baskets. In 1985 Martin Sorrell, searching for a listed company through which to build a worldwide marketing services company, bought a controlling stake of just under 30% at a cost of $676,000.^[7] Sorrell had been the financial director for the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi from 1977 to 1985, managing its takeovers of companies in the US and the UK. The holding company was renamed WPP Group and in 1987 Sorrell became its chief executive.^[7]

In 1987 the company acquired J. Walter Thompson (including JWT, Hill & Knowlton and MRB Group) for $566m.^[7] The company was first listed on NASDAQ in 1988.^[7] In 1989 it acquired Ogilvy Group for $864m^[7] and in 1998 formed an alliance with Asatsu-DK Inc. of Japan.^[7] In 2007 WPP Digital was created to develop the Group's digital capabilities. In October 2008, the company acquired market research firm TNS for £1.6 billion.^[8]

Governance[link]

The company is governed by a board of directors, whose current members include Colin Day, Esther Dyson, Orit Gadiesh, Ruigan Li, Philip Lader, Stanley Morten, Kōichirō Naganuma, Lubna Olayan, John Quelch, Mark Read, Paul Richardson, Jeffrey Rosen, Timothy Shriver, Martin Sorrell, Paul Spencer and Solomon Trujillo.[1]

Operations[link]

WPP's advertising agency company holdings include the Grey Group, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, Young & Rubicam Brands, and JWT (formerly known as J. Walter Thompson Co.).

WPP's government lobbying and public relations company holdings including Hill & Knowlton Strategies, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Burson-Marsteller, and Cohn & Wolfe (the last two being part of Young & Rubicam Brands)

WPP's media investment management company holdings are operated by GroupM and include Mindshare, MEC (formerly Mediaedge:cia, Maxus and MediaCom (originally part of Grey Group).

WPP's research insight and consulting companies, forming a separate umbrella group known as Kantar, comprise BMRB, Added Value, Kantar Video, Indian Market Research Bureau, Millward Brown, Management Ventures Inc., Research International and TNS.

Industrial division[link]

During 1986 WPP became the parent company of Picquotware, a manufacturer of teapots and jugs, based in Northampton. In November 1987 a fire destroyed the Northampton factory and production was restarted at Burntwood in Staffordshire. On 25 November 2004 WPP closed the Burntwood factory and stopped manufacturing Picquotware: all assets were sold on 14 December 2004.^[9]

Delfinware Domestic Wireware, established in 1963 and manufacturing kitchen and bathroom wire racks, is also a subsidiary of WPP Group.^[10]

Subsidiaries[link]

This is a list of WPP-related companies:

References[link]

External links[link]

• WPP official website

Companies portal

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