Wpp Group Plc

The advertising agency best known for its IBM personal computer campaign appears in danger of losing a large part of its $220-million annual business after the defection of several key executives. Court transcripts spelling out the troubles of the Lord, Geller, Federico, Einstein ad firm were circulated Wednesday despite legal efforts to stop it.

A fast-growing British marketing services firm on Wednesday offered $432 million in cash for JWT Group, an advertising giant recently shaken by a power struggle among its top executives. WPP Group PLC said it would pay $45 a share for the embattled JWT Group, which owns the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency and the Hill & Knowlton public relations firm. In New York, JWT Group said it was reviewing the unsolicited offer and other options.

An upstart British company's audacious takeover of fourth-ranked J. Walter Thompson ad agency--the largest takeover in advertising history--is just the latest victory in what has become a British invasion of Madison Avenue. That invasion, which has been spurred by the weaker dollar and is causing uncertainty in the huge U.S. advertising business, has become a matter of pride on this side of the Atlantic. Martin S.

The British advertising giant WPP Group recently made big waves on Madison Avenue by purchasing J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather. It made more waves in Los Angeles on Tuesday by paying what the company said is up to $30 million for Seiniger Advertising, an agency that makes ads for films. Seiniger is best known for creating promotional posters for the movies "Jaws," "Moonstruck" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

WPP Group extended a $50.50 a share bid for the parent of J. Walter Thompson advertising agency until June 22 while negotiations continue. Separately, JWT disclosed that a shareholder has filed a class-action suit against it in Delaware Chancery Court. The suit alleges that several JWT directors did not act in the shareholders' interests when they stated that JWT, its ad agency and its Hill & Knowlton unit were not for sale.

WPP Group, the world's third-largest advertising and communications holding company, said it agreed to buy Los Angeles-based ad research company Diagnostic Research International Inc. to strengthen its market research operations. DRI would be folded into the Millward Brown research group, a unit of WPP's Kantar Group, becoming the biggest ad-testing company in the U.S. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed. In 1998, DRI had sales of $35.5 million and net assets of $3 million.

Advertising powerhouse Young & Rubicam Inc., which has been in takeover talks with British rival WPP Group for several months, is also holding discussions with Publicis of Paris, sources familiar with the situation said. The New York-based company, the world's seventh-largest ad organization in terms of income, approached Publicis because it has been unable to reach an agreement with WPP, the sources said.

London-based Trilateral Communications said it is weighing a bid for JWT, the parent of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency and the Hill & Knowlton public relations firm. Trilateral said three high-ranking JWT executives approached it about buying the New York-based firm. Meanwhile, JWT told WPP Group, another British suitor, that it would provide it with confidential information under certain conditions. WPP has offered $50.50 a share for the firm.