In a statement, Omnicom said it had voluntarily provided the SEC with information on the resignations of Robert Callander, who left on May 22, and Richard Beattie, who resigned on January 28. It has also provided information on the change of auditor -- last week, it replaced Andersen with KPMG.
Omnicom has posted the letters of resignation from Callander and Beattie on its company website. In Beattie's letter, he says he is resigning because of "scheduling conflicts". Callander's letter is a terse single sentence saying: "Effective immediately, I am submitting my resignation from the board of directors of the Omnicom Group".
The advertising services group has been the subject of a Wall Street Journal story questioning its accounting practices. It is reported that Callander, chairman of Omnicom's audit committee, quit the company because he was unhappy with the way certain internet assets were being reported after a deal to house them in a new venture with a private equity firm.
In a statement, Omnicom said that the SEC request for information was "not unusual and was anticipated by the company following last week's press reports".
As the SEC asked for information, Omnicom was hit by the news that a third law firm was to launch a class action on behalf of investors. Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach said it was filing on behalf of those who bought Omnicom stock between April 25 2000 and June 12 2002, claiming that Omnicom issues a "series of material misrepresentations... thereby artificially inflated the price of Omnicom securities".
John Wren, president and CEO of Omnicom, has come out fighting the claims in the WSJ, saying the group has "no skeletons in the closet".
Shares in Omnicom, which have plummeted since stories about the resignations began to filter out, recovered some ground yesterday, rising by $0.95, or 1.73%, to close at $56.
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