WPP Names Microsoft's Cindy Rose CEO to Lead Make-or-Break Turnaround
Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with WPP.
Rose, who has been on WPP's board since 2019, isn't a stranger to transformation; she led Microsoft's UK business before becoming Chief Operating Officer of Global Enterprise; and now, she's being asked to do what feels almost impossiblesteady a sprawling advertising empire; rekindle growth; and wrestle with AI disruption all at once.
The stakes are enormous; WPP has lost almost half its market value this year; it ceded its crown as the world's largest ad group to Publicis; and clients are pulling back on spending; or simply taking their campaigns in-house, empowered by new tech. Chairman Philip Jansen called Rose's digital track record hugely valuable; investors clearly agreedshares edged up 2% in early trading; a modest rebound after Wednesday's brutal selloff.
Rose won't have much of a honeymoon; she takes over September 1, four months earlier than planned; she inherits a business that's bleeding major accounts and facing relentless macro headwinds; but she sounded undaunted; We have and continue to build market-leading AI capabilities, she said; and while that may be true, her challenge now is to convince Wall Streetand WPP's clientsthat the group can actually use them to grow again.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
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