Martin Sorrell
Sir Martin Sorrell Stuart ( born February 14, 1945 in London, United Kingdom) is a British entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer ( CEO) of the WPP Group.
Life
Sorrell was educated at Christ's College, University of Cambridge and at Harvard University, where he graduated with a Master of Business Administration.
He worked from 1968 to 1969 at Glendinning Associates, then from 1970 to 1974 with Mark McCormack from 1975 to 1977 James Gulliver Associates. From 1977 he worked in the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi.
1985 Sorrell privately invested in micro-enterprises Wire and Plastic Products Plc, which had previously made baskets. The company he built into the coming years, especially through numerous mergers and acquisitions of the WPP Group. Since 1986 he has headed the company. Among the largest acquisitions included, among other things, the J. Walter Thompson Group ( JWT ) for 566 million U.S. dollars ( 1987) and the Ogilvy Group for 864 million U.S. dollars (1989 ) and by Young & Rubicam (2000). WPP is now one of the world's largest media and communications company with approximately 160,000 employees in more than 2,000 offices in 108 countries (as of 2011).
Sorrell is income and wealth millionaire. His personal fortune is estimated at about 174 million pounds ( as of 2012). Ahead of the WPP Annual General Meeting in 2012 there was a considerable debate about Sorrells annual salary of 13 million pounds in the course of business, the amount of salary defended in a commentary in the Financial Times. The shareholders ultimately voted against the salary report of the company.
Private life
The entrepreneur was married 33 years to Sandra Sorrell. From 2005 divorced three sons were born. About the divorce was not last reported due to the exorbitant severance payment in the international and British tabloids. Since 2008, Sorrell 's second wife, the Italian Cristiana Falcone, Media & Entertainment Industries Director of the World Economic Forum, married.
Awards
Of 31 December 1999 Sorrell was beaten in the 2000 New Year Honours for his services to the media and communications industry Knight Bachelor.