• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, July 1, 2019

While people on this side of the pond are gearing up for the July 4 holiday, WPP is busy sloughing off assets as part of its slimming-down process announced in December of last year.

Today, the company said it has sold its minority stake (estimated at 25%) in Chime Group Holdings, the sports, entertainment and communications group for £54.4 (about $69 million).

WPP also confirmed it was in exclusive talks to sell most of its research arm, Kantar, to venture-capital firm Bain.

The Chime buyer is majority stakeholder Providence Equity Partners. WPP and Providence jointly bought Chime back in 2015.

Chime’s stable of companies includes UK creative agency VCCP.

WPP said it may earn “potential additional amounts” from the sale “based on the future value of Chime.”