Finsbury (public relations)

Finsbury is a public relations company based in London and New York that specialises in financial services clients. It is a subsidiary of British advertising and media conglomerate WPP plc.

Finsbury
IndustryPublic relations
Founded1994
FounderRoland Rudd
Headquarters
London & New York
Area served
Global
ParentWPP plc
Websitehttp://www.finsbury.com

History

Finsbury was founded by Roland Rudd in 1994 as Finsbury.[1] In 2001, the firm was sold to WPP in a deal that the Financial Times estimated earned Rudd £40 million.[2][3] Rudd remained chairman of the company.[4]

In 2011, Finsbury[1] merged with Robinson Lerer & Montgomery of New York.[5][6] Rudd continued as chairman and Walter G. Montgomery became chief executive officer of the enlarged firm. Montgomery retired as CEO in 2014 but remains a partner in the firm.

In 2014, RLM Finsbury rebranded as just Finsbury which the firm felt would underline its global ambitions.[7]

Wikipedia editing controversy

On 12 November 2012, The Times reported that Alisher Usmanov, a Russian billionaire who was about to launch one of the largest stock market listings in London for his MegaFon mobile phone company hired RLM Finsbury which "covertly cleaned up his online image and removed details of his past" before the offering.[8] The Telegraph reported specifically that RLM Finsbury staff anonymously "deleted details of a Soviet-era criminal conviction and freedom of speech row" and then "replaced those sections with text outlining Mr Usmanov's philanthropy and art collection."[9] According to O'Dwyer's PR, the firm publicly apologized in The Times, giving the following statement: "This was not done in the proper manner nor was this approach authorized by Mr. Usmanov. We apologize for this and it will not happen again."[10]

References
  1. "Finsbury". www.holmesreport.com. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  2. Who We Are. Finsbury. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  3. The networker. Lucy Kellaway, Financial Times, 12 August 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  4. Roland Rudd Chairman. Finsbury. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  5. Danielle Drolet, PR Week, 19 July 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  6. WPP merges Finsbury and RLM. Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson & Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times, 20 July 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  7. RLM Finsbury rebrands to underscore global ambitions. Diana Bradley, PR Week, 17 September 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2015. (subscription required)
  8. Billy Kenber and Murad Ahmed, PR firm of Oligarch Alisher Usmanov cleaned up his entry in Wikipedia, The Times, November 12, 2012.
  9. Matthew Sparkes, Finsbury edited Alisher Usmanov's Wikipedia page, The Telegraph, November 12, 2012.
  10. RLM Apologizes for Wikipedia Scrub, O'Dywer's PR, November 12, 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.