Mark Read, the chief executive, said that the company would need to spend £300 million over the coming three years to simplify WPP’s sprawling structure Toby Melville/ReutersThe advertising giant WPP plans to axe 3,500 jobs in an attempt to reduce overheads by £275 million a year so that it can compete more effectively in an industry dominated by Facebook and Google. Mark Read, its new chief executive, said that “painful steps” were unavoidable as he laid out a three-year plan to reboot the company for the digital era. The bulk of the redundancies are expected to come from back-office and finance teams as Mr Read simplifies WPP’s sprawling empire. “As an industry we are facing tremendous changes from technology and we have to change the way we work. We need to return the company to growth, and unfortuantely some painful steps will be necessary over the coming years,” said Mr Read.

Source: The Times December 11, 2018 09:08 UTC