Sir Martin Sorrell wins MediaMonks tug of war with WPP in biggest creative production deal
Sir Martin Sorrell has completed his first acquisition deal with S4 Capital, having agreed a deal to buy MediaMonks and beating his former business WPP in the process.
Sir Martin Sorrell.
The deal, understood to be the largest acquisition for a creative production house, described by both parties as a ‘merger’, will see the company of 750 people globally now fall under the control of Sorrell’s new venture.
According to the announcement, MediaMonks revenue stands as approximately €110m with 11 offices in 10 countries including the US, UK, Latin America, continental Europe and Asia.
WPP was understood to be furious when it discovered that it's former chief executive was bidding against it for the right to control MediaMonks late last month, with press reports that it was considering revoking Sorrell’s remaining shares.
He resigned during an investigation being carried out by WPP in April and while speaking to The Drum last month, he revealed his plan was to grow S4 Capital as a “multi-national communication services business focused on growth,” and that it would look “very different” from WPP.
“We’re not selling out, we’re buying in” states chief executive of Media Monks, Victor Knaap.
“We are proud to confirm that, with immediate effect, MediaMonks has joined forces with S4 Capital. The merger represents a pioneering move for the creative industry towards next-generation communications,” he added in a statement.
Sorrell, added: “We're delighted to join forces with MediaMonks. This represents a significant step in building a new age, new era, digital agency platform for clients. MediaMonks' roots are totally in new media, and data, content and technology. Our next moves will be to build this platform further and to add meaningful data analytics and digital media buying. The company will be a unitary one with MediaMonks as its core.”
Welcome, Sir Martin! pic.twitter.com/KN1fW2vTXZ
— MediaMonks (@MediaMonks) July 10, 2018
Content created with:
MediaMonks
Find out more