Finsbury (public relations)

Finsbury is a public relations company based in London and New York that specialises in financial services clients. It is a subsidiary of British advertising and media conglomerate WPP plc.

Finsbury
IndustryPublic relations
Founded1994 (1994)
FounderRoland Rudd
Headquarters
London & New York
Area served
Global
ParentWPP plc (50.01%)[1]
Websitewww.finsbury.com

History

Finsbury was founded by Roland Rudd in 1994 as Finsbury.[2] In 2001, the firm was sold to WPP in a deal that the Financial Times estimated earned Rudd £40 million.[3][4] Rudd remained chairman of the company.[3]

In 2011, Finsbury[2] merged with Robinson Lerer & Montgomery of New York.[5][6] Rudd continued as chairman and Walter G. Montgomery became chief executive officer of the enlarged firm. Montgomery retired as chief executive officer in 2014 but remains a partner in the firm.

In 2014, RLM Finsbury rebranded as just Finsbury which the firm felt would underline its global ambitions.[7]

In 2021, Finsbury completed a merger and management buy-in of Finsbury, The Glover Park Group and Hering Schuppener to form Finsbury Glover Hering (FGH). WPP remains the majority owner of the group.[1]

The company provided services to Russian oligarch Andrei Skoch, helping him go after the website SuperYachtFan for reporting on his £100 million yacht.[8][9]

Wikipedia editing controversy

On 12 November 2012, The Times reported that Alisher Usmanov, a Russian billionaire who was about to launch one of the largest stock market listings in London for his MegaFon mobile phone company hired RLM Finsbury which "covertly cleaned up his online image and removed details of his past" before the offering.[10] The Telegraph reported specifically that RLM Finsbury staff anonymously "deleted details of a Soviet-era criminal conviction and freedom of speech row" and then "replaced those sections with text outlining Mr Usmanov's philanthropy and art collection."[11] According to O'Dwyer's PR, the firm publicly apologized in The Times, giving the following statement: "This was not done in the proper manner nor was this approach authorized by Mr. Usmanov. We apologize for this and it will not happen again."[12]

References
  1. "News of Firms: Finsbury Glover Hering Debuts". O'Dwyers PR.
  2. "Finsbury". www.holmesreport.com. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  3. "Finsbury Glover Hering". fgh.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  4. Kellaway, Lucy (12 August 2011). "The networker". Financial Times. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  5. Drolet, Danielle (19 July 2011). "WPP agencies merge to form RLM Finsbury". www.prweek.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  6. "WPP merges Finsbury and RLM". Financial Times. 20 July 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  7. Bradley, Diana (17 September 2014). "RLM Finsbury rebrands to underscore global ambitions". www.prweek.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  8. "Sanctioned Russian oligarchs found sanctuary in Britain". The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (en-GB). Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  9. "Inside MADAME GU Yacht • Feadship • 2013 • Value $150M • Owner Andrey Skoch". SuperYachtFan. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  10. Billy Kenber and Murad Ahmed (12 November 2012). "PR firm of Oligarch Alisher Usmanov cleaned up his entry in Wikipedia". The Times.
  11. Matthew Sparkes (12 November 2012). "Finsbury edited Alisher Usmanov's Wikipedia page". The Telegraph.
  12. "RLM Apologizes for Wikipedia Scrub - November 12, 2012". www.odwyerpr.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.


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