There's been speculation about WPP being sold on and off for years, speculation that picked up steam late last year when the Omnicom-IPG was announced and the industry pondered who might be next.

it's not unreasonable to think that Philip Jansen knew from the start of his WPP board tenure that Rose-a tech expert and turnaround specialist (in Jansen's own field of expertise) who knew WPP quite well from seven years of board service would be the best successor to Mark Read.

He's the top candidate in terms of media speculation and a couple of sports books also have him as the odds-on favorite.