• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, September 11, 2018

I could have sworn I read, repeatedly, over the past several months that Martin Sorrell said his new venture S4 Capital would not be competing with his former place of employment, WPP.

Of course, we have known for a while that was a bit of a fib, when it became clear that S4 and WPP were competitors in the M&A contest for digital production firm MediaMonks.

S4 won that competition with a winning bid of $348 million, according to S4’s just-issued prospectus. It spells out the details by which S4 is executing a reverse takeover of Derriston Capital, with plans to be trading on the London Stock Exchange later this month.

As the prospectus spells out, both S4 and MediaMonks will compete with “large multinational advertising and marketing communication companies and regional and national marketing services companies and new market participants, such as consultancy businesses and technology companies.”

WPP can safely be included in that competitive set without much argument, don’t you think?

And in case you are wondering what the S4 mission is all about, it’s spelled out on page one of the prospectus: “To create a new era, new media solution, embracing data, content and technology, in an always-on environment for multinational, regional and local clients and for millennial-driven digital brands.”

Well, that covers most of the bases for anyone wanting to compete in today's media-marketing space, don’t you think?

Pretty ambitious plans from a man we would expect nothing less from.