WPP Advertising Agency Names Read as Chief Executive

The global marketing colossus WPP named Mark Read, a longtime company executive, as its new leader Monday as the advertising agency tries to rebound from the abrupt departure of its founder in April amid a personal misconduct investigation.

“Our industry is going through a period of structural change, not structural decline, and if we embrace that change we can look ahead to an exciting and successful future,” Read said in a statement released by WPP on Monday. “Our mission now is to release the full potential that exists within the company for the benefit of our clients, to accelerate our transformation and simplify our offering, and to position WPP for stronger growth.”

WPP, which is based in London, has more than 130,000 employees in its 100 marketing and communications firms, including Ogilvy and Y&R. But the company faces new competition in a changing media landscape, including from Sorrell, whose new ad company, S4 Capital, outbid WPP for a Dutch marketing firm in July.

Sorrell led WPP with an iron grip and a frenetic personality, cultivating the image of a superstar executive. He is a fixture on the London and European social scene, and is a regular at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.

He started out at Saatchi & Saatchi in 1975, before setting out on his own. He bought Wire and Plastic Products, then a British shopping basket manufacturer, in 1985, and, through a series of high-profile takeovers of a variety of advertising-related companies, transformed it into what is now WPP.

Over time, though, he came under sharp scrutiny for his lavish pay packages, which symbolized boardroom excess in Britain. Sorrell had earned at least 210 million pounds, or $272 million, in total from WPP since 2012, making him the highest-paid chief executive of any publicly listed British company. That eventually prompted an investor backlash and criticism over WPP’s governance and the leader-centric corporate culture.

Read, by contrast, is seen within the company as soft-spoken and collaborative, seeking advice and input from those around him — almost the complete opposite of Sorrell.

Read will receive a compensation package that includes an annual salary of $1.25 million, as well as potential bonuses and incentive awards, the company said. Before becoming the chief operating officer in April, he was the global chief executive at Wunderman, a WPP firm, and held top positions at WPP Digital.

WPP did not publicly disclose details into the investigation of Sorrell, saying only that the “allegation did not involve amounts that are material” and that the investigation ended when he departed. Over the summer, Sorrell denied a report in The Wall Street Journal that the investigation involved whether he had visited a brothel and paid company money to a prostitute. He also denied allegations of bullying behavior that were detailed in The Financial Times.