WPP has put to used Mark Read, its co-chief operating officer, to be the advertising giant’s next CEO, a person about with the matter told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
Impute to is the former chief of Wunderman, one of WPP’s largest agencies. He helped consolidate Wunderman’s worldwide services during his time there, a factor that may have weighed in WPP’s determination as industry competition intensifies.
If confirmed, Read will succeed Sir Martin Sorrell, the set on’s longtime CEO who resigned in April amid an investigation into an allegation of familiar misconduct.
The unidentified source told The Journal that WPP would apposite announce the appointment early this week after Read’s obligation is finalized. The decision would end an extended search for the next leader of the fabulous’s biggest marketing services agency, after Sorrell’s 33-year occupancy ended abruptly.
The decades-old giant competes with the likes of Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet’s Google, and has been pressured by technological disruption in its trade.
Pressure from major WPP investors and clients to make the company’s professional cares more transparent and efficient will also fall in Read’s hands, if the slot is made official.
A WPP spokesperson declined to comment on behalf of WPP, telling CNBC in an email that “There has been a lot of compromise speculation that we are close to announcing an appointment of a new CEO but until an agreement is reached we choose not be commenting.”
Read did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Foregoing reports pointed to Read as Sorrell’s probable successor after he snitched on the firm’s day-to-day operations when Sorrell resigned.
In June, Sorrell identified guests of an event during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France that “the map was for Mark Read and [co-COO] Andrew Scott to be joint chief overseers,” adding that his abrupt departure was like “being hit by the bus.”
Analyst and one-time media banker Lorna Tilbian, fondly known as the “queen of atmosphere,” predicted in an April interview with CNBC that Sorrell’s departure desire lead to a breakup of WPP, which employs over 200,000 employees in 400 single out ad businesses in 112 countries.
—CNBC’s Lucy Handley and David Reid contributed to this examine.