WPP fires employee detained on bribery charges in China
British advertising giant WPP said on Monday it had fired a member of staff at its GroupM media agency in China, after authorities detained the unnamed person on suspicions of bribery last week.
The marketing conglomerate said it had brought in a third party to conduct an independent investigation.
GroupM’s offices in Shanghai were raided and one present employee and two former staff were held, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
Citing two people who have knowledge on the matter, Reuters reported that Patrick Xu, GroupM China’s chief executive and country managing director for WPP China, was questioned by police but not detained.
WPP, the world’s largest advertising group, said it was cooperating with the authorities and it was conducting its own investigation.
On Saturday, a statement by officials said that the Shanghai Public Security Bureau’s economic crime investigation department had “cracked” a commercial bribery case involving an unnamed advertising company.
The statement said that a senior executive and two other people had been detained as part of the investigation.
It said that those who had been detained “took advantage of their positions to accept huge bribes” between 2019 and February 2023.
GroupM make up about a third of WPP’s £14bn annual revenues.
Speaking to City PM, WPP responded: “We cannot comment on the details of an active police investigation. However, we are terminating the executive’s employment with the company, and GroupM is suspending trade with any external organisation we understand to be part of the police enquiries.
“We are absolutely committed to behaving in accordance with the law and our own code of conduct, and will take all necessary action to ensure this is the case within our business.”
In a statement earlier this year, Mark Read, chief executive of WPP said: “As our fourth largest market globally, China will continue to play a crucial role in WPP’s long-term growth strategy. We believe abundant opportunities will undoubtedly rise in the years ahead”.
The news comes as the number of corruption probes in China ramps up. Last month, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, the advertising company based in Texas, agreed to pay more than $26m to the US Securities and Exchange Commission after its local subsidiary bribed Chinese government officials to obtain advertising contracts.