A further two law firms announced yesterday that lawsuits were pending on behalf of Omnicom investors who bought shares in the company between April 25 2000 and June 11 2002.
These add to numerous other suits filed since a Wall Street Journal article on June 12 questioned Omnicom's accounting practices. As well as naming Omnicom as a defendant, several of the suits also name president and CEO John Wren, chief financial officer Randall Weisenburger, chairman Bruce Crawford and senior vice-president and controller Philip Angelastro.
At the same time, credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's said that it had placed its long- and short-term corporate credit ratings on Omnicom on "CreditWatch". S&P said it can not predict the likelihood of Omnicom's share price, which as been shattered by the reports, recovering and it plans to monitor developments with regard to the shareholder suits.
Shares in Omnicom fell yesterday, closing 1.3% down at $52.35, climbing back from a new year-low of $50.17 reached during the day.
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