Small shops seek more independence from holding companies

Rarely does a week go by that an advertising holding company doesn't announce they're buying a stake in an independent agency. Now, the pendulum might be swinging the other way around.

In just the last few weeks, a number of shopsincluding Johannes Leonardo, O'Keefe Reinhard & Paul and Richard Attias & Associateshave made that move. WPP-backed shop Johannes Leonardo quietly reduced the world's largest holding company's stake in the agency from 49 percent to 25 percent at the end of last year, according to people familiar with the matter. Last week, WPP said it agreed to sell its 49 percent stake in global communication advisory firm Richard Attias & Associates. And similarly without fanfare, Chicago-based OKRP late last year regained its independence from Interpublic Group of Cos., which had held a minority stake in the shop.

At a time when holding companies are struggling to meet the financial demands of shareholders, indies seem to be having a moment. Wieden & Kennedy has been sweeping award shows and topped Ad Age's Agency A-List last year. Speculation has raged that 72andSunny and Anomaly, both owned by MDC Partners, which is in financial disarray and under fire from a dissident shareholder, might consider buying themselves back. (72andSunny didn't respond to a request for comment Tuesday, while Anomaly founding partner Jason DeLand said the agency is not considering that route: "We've never felt the need to be interventionalist, because we see MDC as a partner, not an ownerthat's just the way it's been. There's no truth whatsoever that we were considering buying ourselves back ... we have not entertained that. We don't see the need.")

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