WPP has purchased US-based Fenom Digital which describes itself as a purveyor of “transformative digital options for the age of human interactions.” Ecommerce in different phrases.
Fenom was based in Big apple by Dylan Runne three years in the past and now employs 190 folks (not dangerous going) working for shoppers together with Basset Furnishings, Casper, Crocs, David Yurman, GNC, PacSun and Snipes. It really works primarily through the Salesforce platform and might be rolled into ever-expanding Wunderman Thompson, WPP’s (primarily) tech arm.
WPP CEO Mark Learn says: “Increasing our enterprise in high-growth commerce areas continues to be a excessive precedence for WPP as we enter 2023. The Fenom crew brings a confirmed monitor document of success paired with deep business experience and I’m delighted to welcome them to WPP.”
From a enterprise standpoint this likely is sensible though it’s hardly one to set the. pulses racing. WPP has an issue in that it appears to be constantly undervalued by buyers, based on some analysts not less than. It’s at present valued at round £9bn, in comparison with a peak of round £16bn a decade in the past.
Its deal with tech, whereas likely good enterprise, most likely doesn’t assist in the intervening time as tech shares have tanked spectacularly over the previous yr. They might not all be as mad as Meta/Fb however the mud sticks.
WPP was constructed on first, massive artistic company acquisitions – JWT, Ogilvy, Y&R and Gray – after which a raft of media businesses. There aren’t any of this scale nonetheless to purchase even when WPP was so inclined however WPP may so with an attractive acquisition or two. In any other case there’ll be a rising notion that it’s a tech companies enterprise primarily, numerous it in Wunderman Thompson. In such circumstances buyers are likely to assume: break-up.
