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“It makes huge commercial sense for Dentsu. It’s a bold decision that must have been difficult to make but completely correct,” says Martin Sorrell, matter-of-fact as ever.

The founder and executive chairman of S4 Capital was speaking to Campaign Asia-Pacific during a recent visit to Singapore, referring to Dentsu’s plan to hive off its international operations. For Sorrell, who has long predicted such moves, it is simply natural selection.

“We’ll go from six to five, then five to four and maybe even four to three. The strong will consume the weak,” he told Campaign earlier at Cannes, suggesting that Publicis might “devour parts of Dentsu,” just as “Omnicom is devouring IPG.” Back in 2023, he was among the first to suggest Dentsu should focus on Japan and spin off the rest (video from June 2023 below). 

Of course, that Darwinian framing cuts both ways. While he diagnoses the extinction of others, his own creature, S4, launched in 2018 as an answer to everything WPP was not, has been stumbling. Shares are down 97% since their 2021 peak, revenues dropped 11.4% in the first quarter of 2025, and the market has trimmed its valuation from nearly £4 billion to a humble £140 million.

Still, Sorrell insists the animal lives.

“Our model is exactly what clients need when every dollar counts. Efficiency and speed are our currency.” He says it twice in the same conversation, like a man making sure you got the memo.

The MSQ flip-flop: the industry’s briefest will-they-won’t-they

Reports of a potential tie-in with Peter Reid’s MSQ set off juicy speculation, only for MSQ to claim “surprise”  about any discussions or proposals regarding “the rumored transaction.” To many, it looked like a case of crossed wires, or worse, a clumsy courtship gone wrong.

Sorrell bristles at that suggestion. “S4 did not court MSQ; we don’t actively court mergers,” he says firmly. “They made the approach. One Equity Partners is on the board of MSQ, so when MSQ said their board was unaware, that’s a somewhat strange comment to make. There was a leak in the press, and we’re obligated under the stock exchange regulations to make a public announcement when that happens. To suggest the board was unaware, when One Equity Partners are right there, feels disingenuous.”

It was a rare moment of controversy for S4, and Sorrell’s carefully calibrated denial is aimed at resetting the record. “We respond to inbound requests, but we’re not actively looking for merger partners,” he stresses. In a market where perception is oxygen, that distinction matters. Being seen as the hunter rather than the hunted can be existential.

Sorrell, as ever, is not here to play the wounded.

“Clients, not consolidation, define success,” he says. “Clients are focusing on growth and efficiency. Tariffs have already pushed them to improve margins and operational effectiveness.”

Industry pressures, he argues, are not his burden alone. From Interpublic Group’s layoffs and Omnicom Group’s flat growth to Stagwell’s “backwards” trajectory, he says macro pressures are everywhere. 

“Look at Stagwell,” he says, “They’ve made 14 acquisitions in the last year, and organic growth in the first two quarters of the year is around half a percent. So despite their acquisition activity and loud noise about growth, something has happened there and their underlying growth is flat.”

He’s not wrong about the math. Stagwell’s organic net revenue growth in Q2 was a thin 0.6%, up to $598 million, despite an otherwise respectable 5% top-line revenue increase. For a company that has built its reputation on being the brash challenger to the big networks, that number is hard to spin.

Sorrell delights in the inconsistency.

“In Q1, Stagwell abandoned its organic growth metrics. Everyone gives out their organic growth metrics. In Q2, they were forced by analysts to give it again. The reason they abandoned it in Q1 is that it would’ve gone down to zero, and in Q2 it was a little more than zero. They’re about half a percent in the first half of the year. No one’s writing about that.”

The picture he paints is not subtle: an agency on an acquisition spree, the latest in APAC is ADK Global, but with little growth to show for it once the gloss is stripped away. And that, he suggests, is the point. The industry is stumbling in chorus, even if the scrutiny falls unevenly.

Still, questions linger. A tie-up with MSQ might have made strategic sense on paper: it would’ve broadened S4’s client mix, added creative scale, and deepened its APAC presence. For now, Sorrell insists the company doesn’t need rescuing.

“S4 is built for moments like this,” he says. “Clients demand more for less, faster. That’s our environment, and it’s exactly where we operate best.”

Macro bets, micro patience

To understand that confidence, one must consider his macro lens. S4’s challenges, Sorrell insists, are less structural than environmental.

“Last year wasn’t easy, and this year hasn’t been easy either,” he remarks, referring to broader economic conditions cannibalizing profits across the agency landscape. “Global growth will be below 3%, inflation is stubborn and interest rates will be high. Tariffs don’t help either. Geopolitics, be it U.S.-China, Russia-Iran, creates uncertainty. But growth still exists. You have to pick geographies carefully.”

In APAC, he sees China, India and Southeast Asia as “ripe” for returns, though political risk and supply chain volatility temper his enthusiasm. “Efficiency and effectiveness are critical. Clients are not canceling, they are delaying. By 2026, there will be enormous pressure to implement these technologies at scale.”

He’s talking about AI, quantum computing, blockchain — areas where S4 positions itself as an execution partner.

Financially, the picture is challenging. Q1 revenues slipped 11.4% like-for-like as tech clients hold spending. Critics blame overreliance on Alphabet, Meta and Amazon, whose budgets have cooled. At S4’s June annual general meeting, Sorrell said he expects better performance in the second half of 2025, with new wins or expanded scopes with General Motors, Asana, Amplifon, Samsung, Square, NCS and Opella. Still, full-year net revenue is forecasted below last year, with interim results due September 15.

“We’re also working with a big CPG client (can’t name them) where the average time to produce a commercial was 200 days. We’ve cut that down to 15 days,” he said, describing the company’s first area of focus: speed.

Second is what he calls “Netflix on steroids” or personalizing content at scale.

“Instead of producing a few hundred thousand executions, we can generate multiples. Our work for BMW in Europe and GM globally is an example of that,” he said. 

The third focus is media planning and buying.

“Our industry is still largely manual or semi-automatic. In the algorithmic age, that doesn’t work. We’re working with Google and Meta on Advantage Plus and Performance Max to move media buying to algorithmic models, with agencies validating platform outputs,” he said.

Fourth comes general efficiency. Sorrell pointed to partnerships with AWS, Adobe and Nvidia to cut broadcast production costs by 70% to 80% with AI and cloud technologies.

And fifth, the area he calls most exciting, the democratization of knowledge. He elaborates with an example. “At Nvidia, Jensen Huang reportedly has 51 direct reports and uses AI to spread knowledge across the company. Similarly, at S4, for our biggest client, Google, where we have about 700 people, AI helps us democratize knowledge across teams,” he said.

“So those are the five focus areas. Right now, because of tariffs and geopolitics, clients are hesitant. They’re not canceling but delaying,” Sorrell added, framing the moment as one of patient preparation rather than panic.

Old grudges, new gospel

On his old haunt WPP, Sorrell remains the scorned patriarch.

“WPP is now valued at £4 billion. When I left, it was £16 billion. That’s a quarter of the value it was. It has more debt than it had before. And killing brands like JWT, Grey, Wunderman, Group M and AKQA… and by doing so, they’ve killed a lot of value and upset a number of clients and a number of people. You don’t do mergers by just putting a spreadsheet together and issuing a press release.”

The burn is vintage Sorrell: personal, pointed and very much on the record.

Publicis Groupe, by contrast, he credits for finding its way out of the wilderness. Omnicom and Havas, he notes, are holding their ground. But his broader message is unchanged, “If you’re not platform-aligned, data-native and AI-integrated, you’re playing yesterday’s game.

Seven years after launching S4, Sorrell insists the founding thesis is still right. Digital-only, data-driven, one brand, faster-better-cheaper. Margins, right now, he admits “are round 11 or 12%, they should be closer to 20%. Publicis and Omnicom are able to have those kinds of margins; there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to do that.”

Client concentration is high, but he calls it proof of traction rather than risk.

What of the inevitable question: when will he hang it up? He’s over 80 now, after all. Sorrell doesn’t miss a beat. “I’ll die at my desk,” he says flatly with a smile. Asked if he’d do anything differently if starting over, he lists only margins, client diversification and efficiency.

“So, what are you suggesting I should do differently? It doesn’t make sense to go back. But when you say, ‘What would I do differently?’ You’d always want to do better than you’ve done. However, the fundamental principles of digital-first, data-driven, AI-enabled—those are timeless advantages – even more relevant today than when we started seven years ago. I have great confidence in that model.”

Whether markets believe him is another matter. But Sorrell has never been one for self-doubt. “Faster, better, cheaper, more efficient. That’s the model now. And if the old guard can’t keep up, well…evolution takes care of the rest.”

That’s part mantra, part epitaph, and as usual with Sorrell, it’s delivered with his own particular elegance.

This story first appeared on Campaign Asia-Pacific.