WPP profits fall after 'brutal' 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8550971.stm

The world's biggest advertising group, WPP, saw profits fall by 11% to £663m ($1bn) in 2009 as the economic downturn bit hard into its business.

Chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell, told the BBC that last year the firm had been "staring into the abyss".

He added that the corner had now been turned and that after cutting 14,000 staff last year - about one in 10 workers - it was now hiring again.