– How Will the World’s Largest PR Firm Be Impacted By Divorce? –
When Page Six talks, the PR world listens. Yesterday, The New York Post’s legendary Page Six broke the exclusive that the owner of Edelman PR, the largest PR firm in the world, Richard Edelman is in the midst of a divorce. That is never a good thing for anyone. Yet, when it comes to dollars and sense, one wonders what the impact will be on what Richard has said will be the first billion dollar PR agency.
Page Six reported that “The divorce is going ahead, and their lawyers are currently in negotiations about how to split their considerable assets.”
One imagines that negotiation entails the PR firm – Will she want control? A share of profits? One-time pay off – will she demand firing of some staff she does not like? In some divorces, anything seems to go.
PR Week quoted a spokesman for Edelman saying “The proceedings will not have an impact on the firm’s management or its ownership.” Now, certainly Richard hopes that to be the case, but even with a prenup, for this couple which has been married for 30 years, it is unlikely that there will not be an 8 or 9 figure payout to Edelman’s wife, Rosalind Walrath.
We called numerous agency owners, none of whom would comment on the record. Each noted they had respect for Richard and what he has built – although one notable agency owner, who is married to an attorney chuckled and said he was sure there will be a financial impact on the company.edelm
New York divorce law – where the couple resides – is likely to provide for considerable payment for a spouse of 30 years. The firm has grown tremendously in the last few years. In the America’s, in 2013, Edelman revenues were $450 Million, and in 2009 they were $288 Million.