Eric Salama has decided to step down as CEO of Kantar, now that WPP has completed the sale of a 60 percent stake in the data business to Bain Capital.
The 58-year-old called the move a "personal decision" made in the aftermath of an attempted robbery and stabbing last January outside a café in the toney Kew section of London.
Salama, who suffered a punctured lung during the attack, told the Financial Times the incident has made him think "on what to do over the next few years."
He returned to work a week following the attack but in retrospect says that was too early.
Salama suffered from sleep issues for the next three months and now looks behind himself when walking home from the underground station, according to the FT.
He discussed his decision to retire with both Bain and WPP and said they were surprised as anyone and gracious.
Salama, who was among candidates to succeed former WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, will help in the search for a new CEO at Kantar and join the board as part-time non-executive director.
Morning Consult raises $31M in its first round of institutional financing to value the data intelligence company at $306M. James Murdoch's Lupa Systems was a top investor.
90 percent of Americans think tech companies should make a better effort this year to improve how they collect and share consumers’ online personal data.
Ahmad Al-Khatib, a former director of Cambridge Analytica focused on healthcare initiatives in the Middle East, has launched Auspex International geopolitical communications firm in London. (1 reader comment)
Interpublic is acquiring Acxiom Corp.'s data management unit for $2.3B, a transaction designed to enable the ad/PR giant to compete against Google and Facebook.
Verizon will launch Fifth Generation wireless residential broadband services in three to five U.S. markets in 2018, becoming the first company to do so.
