One of the UK’s most prestigious mastheads, The Financial Times, has been forced to apologise to Sir Martin Sorrell after it included the former WPP boss in an article about disgraced CEOs.
Sorrell stepped down from the company he created after 33 years in April amid allegations of financial impropriety and unsubstantiated reports he’d used company credit cards to pay for prostitutes. Sorrell has denied the claims, while even WPP’s own internal investigation found “the allegation did not involve amounts that are material”.
The Financial Times’ article, published last Friday, was headlined “Disgraced chief executives reap benefits while investors suffer” and has since been removed.
Yesterday, an apology was published on its website which said the article “inaccurately described the circumstances in which Sir Martin Sorrell resigned from WPP”.
The statement read: “Further, we wish to make clear that Sir Martin was not alleged to have engaged in conduct comparable to that of the other former chief executives referred to in the article.
“He has never been accused of the serious wrongdoing with which other individuals in the article have been accused or associated, and has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to his departure from WPP.
“We apologise to Sir Martin for any distress caused to him and his family,” the statement read.
Sorrell has not publicly commented on the article.