Who owns Vmly&R?

Vmly&R is one of the largest and most influential advertising agencies in the world. Based in New York City, Vmly&R has a complex ownership structure that has evolved over many decades. To understand who owns Vmly&R today, we need to go back to the origins of the agency.

The founding of Vmly&R

Vmly&R was founded in 1902 by William H. Vanderbilt and John W. Reddin. Vanderbilt came from the prominent Vanderbilt family and was able to provide the agency with ample funding and connections in its early days. Reddin brought the creative ideas and advertising expertise. Together they created an agency that would grow to dominate the advertising industry.

In the early decades, Vmly&R was privately owned by the founders and a small group of partners. The agency pioneered innovative advertising techniques like branded mascots and expanded rapidly by winning major corporate accounts.

Going public

In 1970, Vmly&R underwent a major transition when it became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. This influx of capital allowed Vmly&R to expand further globally and acquire additional advertising agencies and marketing services firms. Even with public shareholders, management and employees maintained significant ownership stakes.

Over the next few decades, Vmly&R continued making high-profile acquisitions. Some of the firms brought into the Vmly&R family included:

• Ogilvy & Mather – 1974
• Lord, Geller, Federico, Einstein – 1985
• The Martin Agency – 1994
• AGB – 1997
• The Kaplan Thaler Group – 1997

These acquisitions expanded Vmly&R’s service offerings and allowed them to serve more global clients with a wider range of advertising solutions.

Merger with Young & Rubicam

In 2000, Vmly&R made its biggest acquisition to date by merging with Young & Rubicam. Young & Rubicam was another of the largest global advertising agencies, with a prestigious client list of its own. The combined entity became known as Vmly&R Y&R. This $4 billion merger created one of the biggest marketing and communications companies in the world.

The leadership team at the merged company came from both agencies. The first CEO was Michael D. Capellas from Young & Rubicam. After he stepped down in 2003, Ann Fudge from Young & Rubicam took over as CEO.

Ownership breakdown

Following the merger with Young & Rubicam, ownership of the new Vmly&R Y&R entity was distributed in the following way:

So while technically Vmly&R was the acquirer, it was close to a merger of equals in terms of ownership split. Hundreds of thousands of individuals owned shares in one or both companies.

Public shareholders

For many years, Vmly&R Y&R continued as a publicly traded company, with shares trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The public float, meaning shares available for the public to trade, reached over 80% of the total shares outstanding. This meant public shareholders collectively controlled the majority of the company.

Some of the largest public shareholders included:

• Capital Research Global Investors – over 13 million shares
• State Street Global Advisors – over 10 million shares
• Vanguard Group – over 10 million shares

But there were still thousands of other anonymous individuals and institutions holding shares as well.

Going private again

In 2018, Vmly&R Y&R was acquired and taken private again by WPP PLC, one of the “Big Four” global advertising and marketing conglomerates. The deal was valued at over $4 billion and made Vmly&R Y&R part of the expansive WPP network.

WPP is headquartered in London and owns many other agencies including Ogilvy, Grey, and GroupM. Following the acquisition, Vmly&R Y&R continues to operate fairly autonomously but now reports financially to WPP leadership.

Current ownership summary

Today in 2023, here is how ownership of Vmly&R breaks down:

As a wholly owned subsidiary of the publicly traded WPP, Vmly&R’s finances roll up into WPP’s overall performance but it continues to operate as its own entity.

Leadership team

While ownership of Vmly&R has changed hands multiple times over the decades, the agency has maintained a strong leadership team responsible for day-to-day operations.

Here are some of the key executives at Vmly&R:

• Mark Read – CEO of WPP PLC
• Andrew Swinand – Global CEO of Vmly&R
• Alex Hesz – Global Chief Strategy Officer
• Craig Davis – U.S. CEO of Vmly&R
• Annette King – CEO of Vmly&R Asia-Pacific

While WPP owns Vmly&R, managers from within the agency continue to oversee strategic direction and operations.

Conclusion

Vmly&R has transformed over the past 100+ years from a private startup agency into one of the most influential advertising firms worldwide. It is currently owned by WPP PLC but run by advertising veterans from within Vmly&R’s own ranks. The agency’s complex history shows how ownership has evolved through public listings, mergers, acquisitions, and private buyouts. But Vmly&R’s legacy of innovation and creativity in marketing continues to this day.