Sir Christopher, who is chairman of engineering group TI and member of the Young & Rubicam board, could lose out because the City has been unimpressed with TI’s recent share price performance and revelations that his salary of £1.4m was almost £400,000 more than Sir Martin’s.
Sir Martin said, at the time of the Y&R takeover, that he was committed to appointing the next chairman of WPP from the Y&R board. The pledge left him with a choice of Sir Christopher and Michael Jordan, chairman of internet consultancy Luminant Worldwide and former CEO of television company CBS.
It was thought the role was in the bag for Sir Christopher, according to WPP sources. Whoever gets the job will succeed current non-executive chairman Hamish Maxwell who has held the job since 1988. Shareholders prompted the search for a replacement saying, at 72, Maxwell was too old for the job.
Sir Christopher is a former CEO of the Wilkinson Sword Group, the shaving products company owned by Warner Lambert.
Warren Hellman of Hellman & Freidman, the US investment company, and also a member of the Y&R board is thought to have been a favourite for the job, but is “too busy”.
Other Y&R board members have been ruled out for varying reasons. Now shareholders want Sir Martin to renege on his pledge and look outside Y&R for the right person.