Add more content here...

‘Intensely worried’: Australia’s squeezed middle ditches eating out, entertainment to ride out cost of living crunch – but AMP and NAB chief economists warn on job cuts

Chief economists at NAB and AMP have flagged Australia’s low unemployment rate as critical to current consumer confidence while low economic growth hovers above recessionary levels. The threat of incoming job cuts have them worried – and their data suggests those betting on tax cuts to refuel spending may be taking a big risk. 

Published
Categorized as Articles

Sir Martin Sorrell on the $9bn valuation wipeout of his new world holdco S4Capital – and why Publicis, Omnicom, Havas are ‘premier league’ players – Dentsu, WPP, IPG ‘second division’

Part One: It’s been three years since Sir Martin Sorrell was last on the Mi3 podcast – he declared then a mea culpa of sorts: he didn’t, and couldn’t, transform WPP, the giant marketing services holding company he founded in the 1980s, fast enough because it was listed, hampering transformational efforts that would likely spook the investment community. At the time in 2021, Sorrell’s next generation digital holding company, S4Capital, was firing with a market cap of circa £5 billion (AUD$9.6bn), just three years after a street fight with WPP’s board saw him exit and build WPP 2.0. He was bleak on the future of his old British firm, along with WPP’s French and US-based global holding company rivals. But since then S4Capital’s market cap has plunged more than 90 per cent to £300 million (AUD $582m) as the tech sector, representing 45-50 per cent of S4’s £1bn in revenues, slashed their own marketing budgets globally. But there’s more to it – another mea culpa even – and more of Sorrell’s scorecard on his big holding company competitors along with Accenture Song’s dive into media, a move peculiar to Australia, he argues.  

Published
Categorized as Articles

Sir Martin Sorrell on the $9bn valuation wipeout of his new-world holdco S4Capital – and why Publicis, Omnicom, Havas are ‘premier league’ players; Dentsu, WPP, IPG in ‘second division’

Part One: It’s been three years since Sir Martin Sorrell was last on the Mi3 podcast – he declared then a mea culpa of sorts that he didn’t – and couldn’t – transform WPP, the giant marketing services holding company he founded in the 1970s, fast enough because it was listed. At the time (2021), Sir Martin’s next generation digital holding company, S4Capital, was firing with a market cap of circa £5 billion (AUD $9.6bn), just three years after a street fight with WPP’s board saw him exit and start the new business. He was bleak on the future of his old British firm at the time along with WPP’s French and US-based global holding company rivals. But since then S4Capital’s market cap has plunged more than 90 per cent to £300 million (AUD $582m) as the tech sector, representing upwards of 45 per cent of S4’s revenues, slashed their own marketing budgets globally. But there’s more to it – the basics actually, like pricing S4Capital’s business services appropriately to clients. Sir Martin almost acknowledges some rookie errors at S4 in managing the business, which operates as .Monks today globally in-market across technology and content. Aside from his typically robust macro views, Sir Martin also appears to have developed a new and begrudging respect in building S4Capital for businesses that can break down business silos – and lashings of enthusiasm to hire people “who are sharers”, he says. “If ever I was to write a book, which I will never do, about our business, clients and agencies, I would say the biggest impediment is the political structure, or the structure of the companies – they are organised basically into silos,” he told Mi3 last week during a visit to Australia. “Good people tend to put their arms around things. There are exceptional people who are good, who are sharers. Those are the jewels…find good people who are good by definition, but also who share, and we do have them inside our company, but to be frank there are not as many as there should be.” 

Published
Categorized as Podcasts

Qantas docks Joyce payout by $9.26m after board review finds failings in executive and board performance led to reputational damage and customer issues

Qantas is docking the payout of former group CEO, Alan Joyce by $9.26 million and reducing short-term incentives for current and former senior executives by one-third after an executive governance review found failings by board and management contributed significantly to the airline’s reputational and customer service issues.

Published
Categorized as News