Michael Roth, CEO of Interpublic, has 14 days left to file accounts or risk the delisting of the business by the NYSE. This follows a string of accounting scandals and a government probe. Only a few days ago Interpublic had to announce it was firing staff that had presumably been fixing the numbers. The delisting of Interpublic would of course be terrible news for the business and would likely result in the scenario Business Week probed this week - namely a break up of the Group. That could mean brands such as Weber Shandwick, MWW and Golin Harris going on the block. Presumably WPP or Omnicom would snap them up at relatively low prices.
I for one wish this wasn't the case. As a competitor I hardly want these businesses to do well. However, I have to say that no industry wants accounting scandals and government probes into one of its major players. Such things tend to scare away investors that help fund our businesses not to mention people that may be thinking of working in the PR industry. So while having my fingers crossed is unlikely to do much I do rather hope Michael meets his deadline for all our sakes.
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2 comments:
Dear Tim,
How well said. The PR business has enough to contend with. I fear that some of IPG's problems go back to the Shandwick acquisition gala, and - even if the worst of the Interpublic write-offs have nothing to do with PR - PR will be made to carry the can.
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