Cordiant Communications Group

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As of 2001 Cordiant Communications Group was considered to be the eighth largest advertising group worldwide, with an estimated gross income of US$1.2 billion and billings of around US$13.4 billion.

The volatility of the industry and malaise in key industry sectors resulted in considerably lower figures two years later, with the group being acquired by rival WPP in July 2003 for a mere US$17 million (plus assumption of debts).

History

Cordiant traces its origins to the agency founded by Ted Bates (1901-72) in New York in 1940 and the Saatchi & Saatchi agency founded in London in 1970 by Charles Saatchi (1943-), Maurice Saatchi (1946-) and Tim Bell.
Saatchi grew into one of the world's largest advertising conglomerates during the 1980s, culminating in a bid for the UK Midland banking group, but came close to collapse after its expansion saddled the firm with huge debts.
A sense of the pace of its acquisitions - often partly/fully financed with paper and tied to 'earn-outs' - is provided in the chronology below.
The Saatchi brothers left in 1995 - subsequently forming M&C Saatchi - and the group was renamed Cordiant, embracing the Saatchi & Saatchi agency, Bates Worldwide and other entities.
The Saatchi agency was later spun off (and acquired by Publicis), with Cordiant going on to buy a range of marketing and internet consultancies at great expense, leading to speculation in 2002 and 2003 that it would be split up or absorbed by a major competitor.
Management tensions and financial losses resulted in a successful takeover bid by WPP (headed by former Saatchi associate Martin Sorrell) in 2003. Source: [1]

Subsidiaries

Key Cordiant units included -

Further reading

  • Ivan Fallon, The Brothers: The Saatchi & Saatchi Story (Chicago: Contemporary 1989)
  • Kevin Goldman, Conflicting Accounts: The Creation and Crash of the Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Empire (New York: Simon & Schuster 1997)
  • Philip Kleinman, The Saatchi and Saatchi story (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1989)
  • Alison Fendley Saatchi & Saatchi: The Inside Story (New York: Arcade 1996).

Chronology

  • 1935 Richard Compton forms Compton agency
  • 1940 Ted Bates opens agency in New York
  • 1943 Hay Group management consultancy founded
  • 1960 Compton buys 51% of UK agency SG Garland, forms Garland-Compton
  • 1970 Maurice Saatchi, Charles Saatchi and Tim Bell found Saatchi & Saatchi
  • 1971 Fitch & Company brand and design consultancy founded
  • 1972 Saatchi buys Brogan Developers, propeerty development
  • 1972 buys EG Dawes
  • 1974 buys George J Smith
  • 1976 Saatchi merges with Compton UK
  • 1978 buys Hall Advertising (Edinburgh) for £1m
  • 1978 unsuccessful bid for Collett Dickenson Pearce (London)
  • 1979 gains prominence in Margaret Thatcher's election campaign
  • 1979 buys O'Kennedy-Brindley (Dublin) for £0.3m
  • 1980 launches The Sales Promotion Agency
  • 1981 buys Dorland for £7m
  • 1982 buys Compton US for US$56.8m
  • 1983 buys McCaffrey & McCall for US$20m
  • 1983 buys Hunter Advertising (Dublin)
  • 1983 buys Gough Waterhouse (Sydney)
  • 1984 buys Cochrane Chase Livingstone (California)
  • 1984 buys Michael Bungey DFS
  • 1984 buys RJA (Netherlands)
  • 1984 buys Harrison Cowley (UK)
  • 1984 buys Yankelovich Skelly & White market research
  • 1984 buys McBer & Co market research
  • 1984 buys management consultancy The Hay Group for US$125m
  • 1984 buys Hedger Mitchell Stark (London) for £3m
  • 1985 buys Siegel & Gale
  • 1985 buys Marlboro Marketing (New York)
  • 1985 buys The Kleid Company
  • 1985 buys Wong Lam (Hong Kong)
  • 1985 buys Hayhurst (Canada)
  • 1985 buys Campaign (New Zealand)
  • 1985 buys Sharps (UK)
  • 1985 buys Granfield Rork Collins (London) for est £10m
  • 1985 buys Humphreys Bull & Barker
  • 1985 buys Rowland Company (New York)
  • 1985 buys Infocom Group (later renamed ICM)
  • 1985 buys Clancy Shulman Associates (US)
  • 1985 buys Kingsway Public Relations (UK)
  • 1986 buys Dancer, Fitzgerald & Sample for US$75m
  • 1986 buys Backer & Spielvogel for US$101m
  • 1986 buys Ted Bates for US$450m
  • 1986 buys Peterson & Co (US trial litigation advisers) for US$123m
  • 1986 buys Campbell Mithun
  • 1986 Martin Sorrell leave Saatchi, builds WPP Group
  • 1986 Financial Dynamics PR firm founded in London
  • 1987 Saatchi & Saatchi makes takeover bid for Midland Bank (assets US$77bn)
  • 1987 considers bid for Hill Samuel merchant bank
  • 1987 buys Cleveland Consulting Associates (US)
  • 1987 Zenith Media formed
  • 1987 Broad Street Associates buys Financial Dynamics for £5m
  • 1989 Saatchi sells Peterson & Co
  • 1989 sells Info Consulting Group for US$12m
  • 1989 sells Gamma International software group for US$12m
  • 1990 sells Hay Group to MBO for £48.2m
  • 1992 Terence Conran buys 25% stake in Fitch for £1m
  • 1994 sells 50% of CME KHBB to Interpublic for US$40m
  • 1995 Saatchi brothers ousted from Saatchi & Saatchi, form M&C Saatchi
  • 1995 Saatchi & Saatchi renamed Cordiant
  • 1995 buys Laing Henry
  • 1997 Cordiant splits into two separately listed advertising and marketing companies: Cordiant Communications Group and Saatchi & Saatchi (latter absorbed by Publicis in 2000)
  • 1997 Cordiant buys National Research Group from VNU
  • 1998 reports of approaches by WPP, Interpublic and Omnicom not substantiated
  • 1998 GGT sells Financial Dynamics to an MBO for £8m
  • 1999 US marketing group Lighthouse Holdings buys Financial Dynamics for £40m
  • 1999 Lighthouse buys Fitch for £27m
  • 1999 Lighthouse buys UK marketing agency Communicator
  • 1999 Lighthouse buys Chicago agency Davidson Marketing
  • 1999 Cordiant takes majority stake in Bates Clarion Bombay, Calcutta and Delhi
  • 2000 Codiant buys Lighthouse Global Network (inc Financial Dynamics and Fitch design agency) for £392m
  • 2000 buys The Leonhardt Group
  • 2000 buys Donino, White & Partners
  • 2000 merges Communicator with 141 Worldwide to form 141 Communicator
  • 2000 buys US e-business consultancy MicroArts Corp for £63m
  • 2000 buys Healthworld marketing for £113m
  • 2000 buys Verdino Bates Fernando of Argentina
  • 2001 buys Bamber Forsyth corporate identity & design consultancy for £30m
  • 2001 buys 80% of German marketing consultancy InterCom
  • 2001 Cordiant buys Bulletin International for £8.5m
  • 2001 buys Gallagher & Kelly Public Relations in Dublin for £5.6m
  • 2003 sells 71% of Australian agency George Patterson Bates to venture capital firm Pacific Equity Partners for £40m?
  • 2003 WPP successfully bids for Cordiant

Notes

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