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Once a sleeping dog when it came to acquisitions, PR giant Fleishman-Hillard has awakened.
For the first time in its 52-year history and with an undisclosed cash infusion from parent company Omnicom, FH CEO John Graham tells PR NEWS that FH "is looking at 15 acquisitions throughout the world" to help propel its workforce to 3,000 employees and its fees to more than $340 million in three years. When Graham took the helm in 1974, the companywas billing $600,000.
Fleishman-Hillard will buttress both its employee and client base through acquisitions and opening new offices, says Graham, in an exclusive interview one day after its Sept. 17-20 meeting with partners and other high-ranking officers came to a close in Phoenix. Graham provided a blueprint for FH's one- and three-year plans.
The key areas where FH is looking to buy small- to medium-sized agencies (under $10 million) are Spain, the United Kingdom, South Africa and the Midwest and Northwest of the U.S.
Omnicom's deal to buy FH closed last August and represents a telltale sign of the competitive terrain of communications today. Other signs that point to the health of the PR industry also surfaced this year, including Interpublic's July announcement that it will buy London-based IPR, which owns Shandwick and Golin/Harris; and Young & Rubicam, parent company of Burson-Marsteller, filing an IPO.
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