Boiling the frog: how Sorrell stalked Singo’s prize for a decade and a half
STW’s merger with WPP this week has been 17 years in the making. Simon Canning looks at the long road travelled by Australia’s biggest holding company.
Twenty two years after John Singleton floated his eponymous agency and 17 years after WPP joined in an unlikely allegiance, Sir Martin Sorrell has finally done what everyone expected and taken control of the business.
News that WPP has taken a controlling stake in STW Group, the business that began as John Singleton Advertising, will come as a surprise to no one. What has surprised is that it took so long.
Sorrell’s pursuit of STW has been a frog boiling exercise of epic proportions, but followers of adland history will see a theme playing out that mirrors his takeover of GPY&R, the once unassailable George Patterson Bates that finally fell to WPP’s control.
Not sure Sir S will fall for MC’s “it’s not good enough, we must do better” schtick when asked ‘what’s going on?’
Hey Simon … why don’t you give Singo a bell and see what he has to say about all this ? Whatever he has to say will be worth printing!
@David – you would be correct. There will be a lot more accountability demanded of STW Management, when they have to answer to WPP, than to half yearly shareholder meetings of investment banking and superfund representatives.