Sir Martin Sorrell the founder of WPP PLC the world’s largest advertising company and now owns the listed S4 Capital has warned coronavirus is comparable to the 9/11 terrorist attacks or the 2008 financial crisis.
Sir Martin spoke of the global economic effect coronavirus on BBC Newsnight.
He said, “It seems to be a little bit similar, I don’t want to be alarmist about it, to 9/11 and to some extent to what we saw in the financial crisis in 2008.
“I think the impact on travel habits, business habits, the way we communicate will be a little bit more significant than people think.”
Speaking of which sectors have been hit hard, Sir Martin said, “Clearly travel has suffered very heavily.
“We’re starting to see the financial sector suffer – for example shares in banks here in the United States have suffered with a reduction in interest as well which reduces banking profitability.
“Supply chains have been compressed, people are looking for alternative sources of supply so its pretty much across the board.”
He added, “Our company in China which closed, people working from home in early February has now recovered and everybody’s back at work again.
“You have this strange impact that in China, and in an autocratic economy like Singapore for example, the virus is under control and what we’re seeing now is it fan out into other economies around the world.”
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