Finsbury is a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

company based in London and New York that specialises in

financial services Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companie ...

clients. It is a subsidiary of British advertising and media conglomerate

WPP plc WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, England. It was the world's largest advertising company, as of 2019. WPP plc owns many compan ...

History

Finsbury was founded by

Roland Rudd Roland Dacre Rudd (born April 1961) is the founder and chairman of Finsbury (formerly RLM Finsbury), a public relations firm. Rudd was educated at Oxford University, becoming President of the Oxford Union before starting a career in journalism ...

in 1994 as Finsbury. In 2001, the firm was sold to WPP in a deal that the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...

'' estimated earned Rudd £40 million. Rudd remained chairman of the company. In 2011, Finsbury merged with Robinson Lerer & Montgomery of New York. Rudd continued as chairman and Walter G. Montgomery became chief executive officer of the enlarged firm. Montgomery retired as chief executive officer in 2014 but remains a partner in the firm. In 2014, RLM Finsbury rebranded as just Finsbury which the firm felt would underline its global ambitions. In 2021, Finsbury completed a merger and management buy-in of Finsbury, The Glover Park Group and Hering Schuppener to form Finsbury Glover Hering (FGH). WPP remains the majority owner of the group. The company provided services to Russian oligarch Andrei Skoch, helping him go after the website SuperYachtFan for reporting on his £100 million yacht.

Wikipedia editing controversy

On 12 November 2012, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'' reported that

Alisher Usmanov Alisher Burkhanovich Usmanov (russian: Алишер Бурханович Усманов; born 9 September 1953) is an Uzbek-born Russian businessman and oligarch. By 2022, Usmanov had an estimated net worth of $19.5 billion and was among the w ...

, a Russian billionaire who was about to launch one of the largest stock market listings in London for his

MegaFon MegaFon (russian: МегаФон), previously known as North-West GSM, is the second largest mobile phone operator

mobile phone company hired RLM Finsbury which "covertly cleaned up his online image and removed details of his past" before the offering. ''The Telegraph'' reported specifically that RLM Finsbury staff anonymously "deleted details of a Soviet-era criminal conviction and freedom of speech row" and then "replaced those sections with text outlining Mr Usmanov's philanthropy and art collection." According to ''O'Dwyer's PR'', the firm publicly apologized in ''The Times'', giving the following statement: "This was not done in the proper manner nor was this approach authorized by Mr. Usmanov. We apologize for this and it will not happen again."

References

Public relations companies of the United Kingdom Public relations companies of the United States Companies based in the City of Westminster Companies based in New York City British companies established in 1994 WPP plc 2001 mergers and acquisitions {{UK-company-stub