Read throws in the towel to fuel WPP succession battle

The board of WPP has announced that chief executive Mark Read will retire from his role, as well as the board, on December 31 2025, after more than 30 years with the company, after he apparently has decided that the “time is right for him to hand over to a new leader”, triggering the search for a successor.

Read, the former Wunderman global chief executive, was sworn into the top role in September 2018, following months of speculation about the successor to Sir Martin Sorrell.

Read first joined WPP in 1989 as a corporate development manager, staying five years. He then had a spell at Booz & Co before founding online loyalty business WebRewards in 1999, which was subsequently sold to Bertelsmann. Read returned to WPP in 2002 as director of strategy and has been with the company ever since.

Read was appointed to the main board in 2006 after taking on the role of CEO of WPP Digital but stepped down in 2015; he took on the additional job of CEO at Wunderman in 2015, succeeding Daniel Morrel.

Over the past seven years he has overseen huge changes to the agency group, consolidating and axing a raft of well-known brands, including Wunderman and JWT to form VML, while WPP is moving towards single P&Ls for various agency groups, such as EssenceMediacom, Mindshare, and Wavemaker, under WPP Media.

Meanwhile, Grey has been brought under the Ogilvy umbrella. WPP has also centralised back-office functions like finance, trading, and HR across its media agencies.

The restructuring has been triggered by tough trading conditions and has not been without its critics – including former boss Sorrell – although his venture, C4 Capital, has not exactly set the agency world on fire.

WPP’s Philip Jansen said: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Mark for his contributions not only as CEO but throughout his more than 30 years of leadership and service to the Company. During that time Mark has played a central role in transforming the Company into a world leader in modern marketing services, with deep AI, data and technology capabilities, global presence and unrivalled creative talent, setting WPP up well for longer-term success.

“We are pleased that Mark will continue to lead WPP as CEO until the end of the year, remaining focused on the execution of the Company’s growth strategy and supporting a smooth transition to his successor, once appointed.”

Read added: “WPP is an incredible company with over 100,000 talented and creative people, wonderful clients and partners, and an unmatched presence around the world. It has been an immense privilege to serve as its CEO for the past seven years.

“When I took on this role our mission was to build a simpler, stronger business, and put structure and new energy behind our creativity and performance, powered by world-leading technology. I am proud that our teams across the business have delivered that exceptionally well. Our clients today rate us more highly than ever before, we now work with four of the world’s five most valuable companies, and our revenues with our biggest clients have grown consistently.

“Our business starts with creativity, and I was delighted for our teams that last year we were once again named Creative Company of the Year at Cannes Lions. We have also positioned WPP at the forefront of the industry with our investments in AI and, with the full launch of WPP Open this year, we are now leading the way as AI transforms marketing. We have an exceptional leadership team and a secure financial position that allows us to face the future confidently and capture the opportunities ahead.

“After seven years in the role, and with the foundations in place for WPP’s continued success, I feel it is the right time to hand over the leadership of this amazing company. I am excited to explore the next chapter in my life and can only thank all the brilliant people I have been lucky enough to work with over the last 30 years, and who have made possible the enormous progress we have achieved together. I would also like to thank Phil and the rest of the Board for their steadfast support for me and the wider executive team, and I look forward to supporting them in the transition to my successor in the coming months.”

The search for a successor will no doubt spark huge speculation, and with Cannes Lions running next week, adland is likely to be be going into a frenzy. Whether WPP will be brave enough to promote the person who is seen as Read’s right-hand woman and his “natural” successor – VML global president Mel Edwards – to become the first female boss of a major agency group, remains to be seen.