Channel 4's outgoing head of promoting is the main candidate to develop into the subsequent head of M&C Saatchi Group, the London-listed promoting company.
Sky Information has discovered that Zaid Al-Qassab, whose exit from the state broadcaster was introduced final month, is near agreeing to develop into the brand new chief govt of M&C Saatchi.
An promoting business supply stated on Wednesday that Mr Al-Qassab had seen competitors from rival candidates in current weeks, with an announcement attainable inside days.
Mr Al-Qassab labored for Channel 4, which lately confirmed plans to chop a whole lot of jobs because it faces a pointy drop in promoting spending since 2019.
Earlier than that he labored for BT Group.
If confirmed, Mr Al-Qassab will exchange Moray MacLennan, who had labored for M&C since its basis in 1995 and whose departure was introduced final July.
The announcement of his exit comes simply weeks after Zillah Byng-Thorne, the previous editor-in-chief of The Week, Future, joined M&C as chairman.
She is appearing as govt chairman from Mr. MacLennan.
M&C is without doubt one of the best-known names within the British promoting business, which was shaped by the Saatchi brothers – Maurice and Charles – after they left Saatchi & Saatchi.
The latter firm nonetheless bears his identify and is owned by Publicis Groupe of Paris.
M&C has suffered various challenges lately, together with monetary reporting points and the exit of different co-founders together with David Kershaw and Invoice Muirhead.
They lately purchased shares within the firm in an expression of confidence in Ms Byng-Thorne.
Its actions prolong far past conventional promoting, together with the brokerage and activation of sports activities sponsorships, digital and social advertising and marketing and expertise administration.
The company lately secured certainly one of Britain's most outstanding promoting mandates when it was appointed by the Treasury to create a marketing campaign designed to influence hundreds of thousands of Britons to purchase the federal government's 36% stake in NatWest Group.
In 2022, M&C was on the middle of a bidding warfare involving software program entrepreneur Vin Murria and Subsequent Fifteen Communications, one other London firm.
M&C runs campaigns for dozens of blue-chip purchasers, together with Heineken and Barclays.
The federal government can be already an enormous shopper of the group, producing work for the NHS and various Whitehall departments.
On Wednesday, shares in M&C closed at 176p, giving it a market capitalization of round £217m.
The inventory is down 9% over the past 12 months.
An organization spokesman declined to remark Wednesday night time.
