Bharat Thakrar, the founder of WPP Scangroup, recently failed in a bid to reclaim control of the marketing firm during an annual general meeting. Thakrar and a group of minority shareholders attempted to remove the entire board and replace them with a slate of directors led by himself. However, the proposal was defeated by British advertising giant WPP Plc, which holds a controlling 56.26 percent stake. Thakrar, who founded Scanad Marketing Ltd in 1982 and took the company public in 2006, was ousted in 2021 following allegations of gross misconduct that were later unfounded. He now argues that the board has destroyed shareholder value, noting a net loss of Sh713.6 million in 2025 compared to Sh867.3 million in profits in 2013, while the industry faces disruption from AI and digital shifts.