 Mark Penn |
Stagwell Group chief Mark Penn is negotiating to assume the helm of MDC Partners and take an investment stake in the troubled ad/PR firm, according to the Wall Street Journal.
MDC, which faces a proxy fight at its June 4 shareholder meeting, has been conducting a strategic review.
The firm, which is the parent of Hunter, Allison+Partners, KWT Global and Sloane & Co., lost $36.2M during the nine-month ended September period on $1.1B in revenues.
It has long-term debt of $987M.
MDC CEO Scott Kauffman announced in September that he plans to step down once a successor is named.
Penn, former pollster for Bill and Hillary Clinton, ex-Burson Marsteller CEO and Microsoft chief strategy officer, had earlier tried to buy MDC with Apollo Global Management, according to the WSJ.
Stagwell's holdings include Finn Partners and SDKKnickerbocker.
Public Policy Holding Company grew 27.5 percent to $50.1M during Q1, powered by the accelerating contribution from recent acquisitions and a 5.1 percent hike in organic revenues across its three operating segments.
Institutional Shareholder Services advises investors to vote "no" on a compensation package for WPP chief Cindy Rose at the May 8 annual meeting.
FTI Consulting chalked up a 9.5 percent rise in Q1 revenues to $983.3M, powered by gains in its PR, corporate finance and technology segments.
Stagwell reports 4 percent growth in Q1 net revenues to $585M and a record $141M in net new business wins.
WPP reported a 6.7 percent drop to $3.1B in Q1 like-like revenues less pass-through costs. CEO Cindy Rose says 'it will take time to outpace historical losses."
