By Kevin McCauley
WPP chief Martin Sorrell has added Chinese media mogul Li Ruigang to its board of directors in a move that gives the Dublin-headquartered ad/PR combine "plenty of connections" in China, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Cultivation of the Chinese communications market is a top priority for Sorrell.
Li is president of Shanghai Media Group, which owns 15 TV stations, 11 radio frequencies, eight newspapers and magazines including China’s most influential financial publication, CNB Daily.
SMG holdings also include 30 pay TV channels and broadband/mobile TV properties, making it the largest content and distributor of Chinese language programs in the Mainland.
Li chairs China Media Capital, the country’s only sovereign private equity fund dedicated to the media. It has a partnership with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Star China entity.
WPP also added Sol Trujillo, who served as CEO of telecoms on three continents; U.S. West (now Quest), Orange (now France Telecom) and Telestra (Australia). The Wyoming-born Trujillo has served on the boards of Bank of America, Gannett, PepsiCo, Target and Silk Road Technologies.
WPP's PR units include Ogilvy PR Worldwide, Burson-Marsteller and Hill & Knowlton.
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