Sir Martin Sorrell is in Davos, advising the world on what it should do next and putting in a good word for his new venture S4 Capital.
It’s as though nothing’s changed. Although the Daily Mail reported earlier in the week that sponsor WPP had requested that Sorrell not be invited to the lunch it hosts for the UK’s CBI bosses organisation – fertile ground for ace networker Sorrell in the past. But we don’t want any unpleasantness over the strudel.
He’s also been telling Sky News that, if Brexit goes ahead and the UK leaves the European Union, the country should take a leaf out of Singapore’s book by becoming a low tax, low regulation location. Fellow tycoon Sir James Dyson evidently thinks the same, he’s announced he’s relocating Dyson’s HQ to Singapore.
Sky News
Sorrell said: “My view is that you will have to build a British brand and it’s going to be a tax-light, low tax area and in my view it’s going to be low-regulation as well.
“To my mind Britain will have to become more – not less – about attracting the likes of Google, Amazon, Facebook, Adobe, Salesforce, Oracle, Apple and Microsoft.
“What you’ve got going on at the moment is European governments and Brussels looking at these tech giants with increasing intensity and thinking about regulation.
“So for us to lure them away may go against the grain but my view is the positioning of Britain post-Brexit has to be around making Britain a really open-for-business country.
“So light tax, and light regulation is really important.”
A key part of S4’s strategy, of course, is partnering the tech giants as they increasingly dominate the world’s ad market. His theory is that they need an expert partner to help them navigate an ever-changing digital world.
So Brexit could be a double win for Sorrell – maybe.
Perhaps he could do “lunch” in Shepherds Market.